Tutor Who?
by Shevy B
Summary: Set between Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song. The Doctor knows he's going to die, but before he goes there is one last person the TARDIS brings him to see. Before he knows it, the Doctor is wrapped up in Rose Tyler's life with no way of getting out. Inspired by the quote "I could help Rose Tyler with her homework!" 11/Rose friendship, IN PROGRESS
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is my next big story! I know Billie Piper dyed her hair while playing Rose, but in Father's Day, Young Rose was blonde, so I'm sticking to that. This story is rated T for safety when Jimmy Stone begins playing his role in Rose's life. Enjoy the first instalment of** _ **Tutor Who?**_

 **Chapter One:**

 **Young Rose**

"One last trip," the Doctor muttered walking around the console. "Just one last trip. Where to, Old Girl? You sexy, sexy thing? The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade? Naw, been there done that! No point in repeating old trips, huh? Oh, I know, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni's World!"

The TARDIS sent the equivalent of an eyeroll to the Doctor telepathically.

"Don't want that either? Alright then, diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko!" the Doctor exclaimed happily, "I haven't been there since my ninth regeneration! Rose loved it there..." the Doctor trailed off before coughing and bringing himself back to the present. "Well, maybe not Kataa Flo Ko, couldn't wear my brand new stenson there, eh? I'd have to wear those scuba dive suits."

The TARDIS hummed in agreement and then in annoyance as the Doctor began flipping a switch that evacuated the waste tank on deck seven.

"How about Delphon? Hmm, might get complicated there, though, seeing as I have no eyebrows this time 'round. You see the people of Delphon use eyebrows to communicate..." the Doctor trailed off as he looked around the console room and saw no one else was with him.

"One last trip before I die, and I can't decide where to take my farewell tour."

The TARDIS hummed comfortingly as the Doctor collapsed onto the jumpseat and pulled his stetson over his head, "Stupid Lake Silencio, and the Silence- oh! Lake Silencio! I just got it! Silence will fall at Lake Silencio. It's almost like someone's out there writing this stuff."

The TARDIS laughed at this, but the Doctor had no idea what was so funny about what he had said.

"Why five oh two, though? Hmm, looks like my killer was supposed to be there at five but showed up a little too late. Well, at least River can be a little late to kill me. I'll take all the time I can get."

The Doctor chuckled at his own joke and said, "Always knew that woman would be the death of me. Turns out I was right." The Doctor sighed and straightened his stetson on his head before turning to the TARDIS and saying, "How about you choose, Old Girl? Surprise me! Anywhere in time and space, somewhere that will take my breath away."

The Time Rotor started pumping up and down, and the Doctor allowed himself one large smile before remembering that this would be the last planet he visited before dying.

The TARDIS sensing the Doctor's mood shuddered violently and the Doctor laughed as he was tossed to the floor.

"GERONIMO!" He yelled as he hopped up from the floor and began to fiddle with different levers on the TARDIS.

 **...**

It was an ordinary day in London. Overcast skies and cool temperatures. Anyone on the streets had somewhere to be and were not stopping for idle chatter. No one had the time to notice the blue Police Box appear out of thin air, nor the very ruffled man with a stetson askew on his head step out.

"Let's see!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly rubbing his hands together and taking in his surroundings. "London, by the looks of it, or else Epcot... I can never tell them apart," the Doctor spotted a newspaper and snatched it up. "Eighteenth of March, 1993! Blimey, why'd you bring me here?" the Doctor turned to the TARDIS and asked.

The TARDIS remained silent like most Blue Boxes that are bigger on the inside would, and the Doctor turned away from her and instead looked around some more.

"This looks familiar," he mused, "Guess I spend way to much time in London."

The Doctor turned and began walking towards a little playground. Maybe he could swing on the swings! Or the seesaw, or the monkey bars... What the hell, he was going to play at the park. No kids were out there on a bleak rainy day anyways.

That was until the Doctor heard a little sob coming from uptop the slide.

"Hello there," the Doctor greeted the child.

The girl sniffled and turned around. She had a round face and brown eyes. Her hair was a soft shade of blonde with bits of brown mixed in, "Who are you?" she asked. "Do I know you, or are you Stranger Danger?"

The Doctor laughed, "I'm the Doctor, not Stranger Danger."

The little girl relaxed a bit, "Good. Cos I'm supposed to call the coppers if someone says their Stranger Danger," the girl paused and said as an afterthought, "I wonder who Stranger Danger is. I've heard he's got candy in his car, though."

The Doctor chuckled and said, "I've met Stranger Danger, not a nice guy, I'll tell you that."

The girl smiled but another tear streaked down her cheek.

"Why are you crying?" the Doctor asked.

"Cos I ran away and now I've got nowhere to go," the girl admitted before crying some more. "Mum must be worried bout me, but I can't go back there."

"Why not?" the Doctor asked.

"Cos she'll kill me," the little girl replied earnestly. "She'll honest to god kill me. Then burry me alive."

"It'd be hard to burry you alive if your already dead," the Doctor pointed out.

"I s'pose so," the girl responded, "but she'd figure out a way to."

"Why would your mum want to kill you?" the Doctor asked softly.

"Cos... Cos I got a bad grade," the girl replied before bursting into tears. "The teachers say I'm gonna fail year two. Then I'm gonna have to do year two all over again, and Shareen and Keisha and Mickey and Jimmy will all go on to year three and I'm gonna be stuck in year two."

"I don't think you'll fail year two if you only got one bad grade, and I don't think your mum will kill you either," the Doctor said.

"You don't?" the girl asked.

"I don't," the Doctor affirmed. "Now how about you go back home."

The girl suddenly burst into tears again, "I dunno how to get back!" she wailed. "I'm lost! I'll never see my mum again!"

"Calm down," the Doctor soothed, "I'll get you home. I have the directional instinct of a homing pigeon! Just tell me what estate, I've been around the block a couple times, I know London like the back of my hand. Well, I take that back, my hand can change sometimes, long story, but I know London well!"

The girl goggled at the Doctor for a second before asking, "What was your name again?"

"I'm the Doctor," he answered, "And I don't think I happened to catch your name."

"How would you catch a name. Names can't be caught, your thinking of a ball," the little girl said.

"Well can you tell me your name then? Maybe we can write your name on a ball and then toss it to each other and then we can catch your name," the Doctor said. "Or a frisbee. I like catching frisbees as well."

"My name is Rose Marion Tyler," the girl said, "And I don't think the Doctor is a real name. Are you sure your not Stranger Danger?"

The Doctor gaped at Rose for a second before saying, "Rose Marion Tyler. I take it the Estate you live in is the Powell Estate?"

"How'd you know?" Rose asked. "Can you read minds? Jimmy says he can read minds, but he hasn't read mine properly yet. Keisha says it's a load of rubbish, mind reading."

"Well I'm John Smith, and I can read minds," the Doctor said.

"I thought you said your name was the Doctor," Rose said.

"Yeah, well I'm actually Doctor John Smith," the Doctor said. He couldn't risk a paradox by Rose already knowing him before he showed up at Henricks.

"Are you the type of Doctor that gives shots?" Rose asked.

"No, I'm the type of Doctor who helps little girls find their way back to their house. So c'mon, Rose Tyler, let's get you back to the Powell Estate."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for the slight delay in updatage (is that a word? Well, it is now...). Normally I like to get two chapters up in the first week, but this took slightly longer than I planned to write out. For some reason I lost my muse for a day or two and simply could not figure out a way to start the chapter! Anyway, I'll be posting chapter three tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled!**

 **Chapter Two:**

 **Jackie Tyler**

Rose once told the Doctor that he had a gob that could speak for all of England. However, the Doctor found out as he was walking the younger Rose home, that Rose had a gob that could speak for the entire universe. Within ten minutes, the Doctor learned all about Rose's friends and what birthday gifts they had gotten or what holidays their parents were planning.

"...And _then_ Mickey said, 'Jimmy, I dunno whether Kangaroos have bellybuttons. Their born in a pouch, so maybe they still have a Umbil... Umbilly... Umbrella Cord.'"

"Umbilical Cord," the Doctor suggested helpfully as Rose struggled for the right word.

"That's hard to pronounce," Rose said scrunching up her nose.

"Try saying Raxacoricofallapatorius," the Doctor joked.

"Is that a disease?" Rose asked.

"No, it's a planet," the Doctor said.

"Sounds more like a disease to me," Rose said before launching into her next story. "One time I caught the flu. Mum had to keep me from school for _two whole weeks_!"

"And look! The Powell Estate," the Doctor cut off Rose's string of chatter to point out the Council Estate that had just loomed into view across the street.

"Home!" Rose exclaimed happily. "Thank you Mister Smith, sir, so much!"

Rose made to cross the road to get to the Estate when the Doctor held out an arm to stop her. A car zoomed past that otherwise would've hit Rose.

"Woah, that car came out of nowhere!" Rose happily chattered.

"Rose, always hold an adult's hand when crossing the street," the Doctor said holding out his hand and grabbing the seven year olds smaller hand in his.

 _Flashback..._

" _C'mon! This way, Rose Tyler!" the Doctor exclaimed happily running towards the fair. Rose kept pace with him laughing and talking about cotton candy when she stopped short just before a small cobblestone road._

" _What?" he asked halting his run to make sure his companion was alright._

 _Rose pointed to the road the Doctor had almost sprinted across, "You always need to hold someone's hand when crossing the road," she scolded._

" _Even when that road is blocked up for the fair and doesn't have any cars on it?" the Doctor asked cheekily._

" _Especially then," Rose confirmed grabbing the Time Lord's hand before they together sprinted across the road and towards the fair._

The Doctor closed his eyes at the onslaught of memories bubbling to the surface of his superior Time Lord brain.

"Doctor Smith, you alright?" Rose asked bringing the Doctor back to reality.

"Yeah," the Doctor mummered before abruptly changing the subject, "So! When crossing a road, what's the first thing you do?"

"Hold someone's hand?" Rose answered uncertainly.

"Yes! Brilliant," Rose swelled with pride as the Doctor continued, "And what do we do next?"

"Oh! I know, look both ways," Rose answered easily.

"Ok, so let's do that now, do you see any cars?" the Doctor asked.

"Nope! All clear," Rose smiled widely.

"So if there are no cars, what do we do next?"

"Cross the street?" Rose asked.

"Geronimo!" The Doctor exclaimed pulling Rose across the street.

"Ger-one-moe, what does that mean?" Rose asked once they were safely across the street and walking up to the Powell estate.

"Geronimo, it's, it's, it's a word that people say before they do something exciting,exhilarating, fun," the Doctor explained.

"Is crossing the street fun?" Rose asked.

"Anything can be fun if you have the right attitude," the Doctor said wisely. "So, Rose Tyler, which apartment do you live in here?"

"Can you read my mind again?" Rose asked excitedly.

"It, uh, well, it, it, it takes a lot of energy to read minds and I don't have enough energy right now to read your mind," the Doctor stuttered lamely. The truth was after a couple hundred years, he simply did not remember which apartment was Rose's.

"Oh," Rose said slightly disappointed, but she quickly recovered to her perky attitude and grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him up the stairs.

"C'mon," Rose said impatiently as the Doctor took to the stairs at a slow pace. "Your walking like my mum, and she's old."

"Rose Tyler, never, ever compare me to your mum," the Doctor shuttered before quickly adding, "I mean, I'm not old. Well, not really... Ish."

"I knew it! You are an old person!" Rose squealed delightedly. "I knew it since you told me saftey about crossing the street! It's just what every old person does!"

"Rose, I'm not old," he argued. Sure, he was about a thousand years old, but for his people, that was middle aged.

"Race you to the top of the stairs, then," Rose challenged him.

The Doctor grinned before bolting up the stairs two at a time, Rose on his tail. When they reached the top floor, the Doctor stopped and waited as the seven year old caught up with him and lectured, "You cheated. We didn't even say 'ready, set, go'."

"You didn't tell me we had to," the Doctor pointed out.

"Well, let's race again, back down to the third floor. That's where I live," Rose said simply before adding, "And this time we start at the same time."

"Ok then. Ready... Set... GO!" the Doctor yelled sprinting down the stairs.

The problem was, as the Doctor was sprinting back down the steps, he overlooked the fact that he had already reached the third floor. By the time he noticed that he had arrived at the designated stopping point, he was going too fast to stop himself from careening down the next flight of stairs. However, he tried to stop his momentum anyway. Rose made it to the top of the third floor steps just in time to watch the Doctor slip, fall on his rear, and slide down the stairs to the next landing.

"You alright, Doctor Smith?" Rose asked watching as the Doctor stood up brushing off his jacket and straightening his bowtie.

"Yes. I, I, I just seemed to have miscalculated how short of a distance I had to travel," the Doctor explained lamely. Rose goggled at him for a minute before bursting into laughter.

"Oi! It's not funny," the Doctor yelled at Rose who was still giggling.

"You fell on your butt and slid down the stairs!" she yelled happily. "You must be old, cause only old people fall down stairs!"

The Doctor grumbled as he got up and trudged up to where Rose was still laughing at him. Leaving the staircase he turned back to the seven year old and gestured in front of him, "Lead the way."

Rose grinned broadly and marched in front of the Doctor leading him towards her apartment, "Here it is," Rose said importantly knocking on the door.

The door was flung open and the Doctor found himself staring at a very frantic looking Jackie Tyler.

"ROSE!" She yelled loud enough to wake the dead. Jackie scooped up Rose and began a full body examination of her daughter, "Where were you?! Are you Ok?! Did you get hurt?! Why didn't you come home after school? I was so worried!"

"Mum, I'm fine!" Rose defended herself squirming in her mother's tight embrace.

Jackie released Rose and turned to the Doctor, "And who are you? Did you kidnap her? Did you kidnap my Rose? Are you asking for a ransom? Is this a big scam?" Jackie fired at the Doctor.

"No! I did not kidnap her!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I found her crying at the park. She got a bad grade at school and was afraid to come home because she thought you would kill her, and bury her alive. Which, when you think about it is impossible because-"

"Oh would you stop rambling on about nothing?" Jackie cut across the Doctor.

"Right, sorry," the Doctor said quickly. "Point is, I found her and helped her find her way home."

Jackie paused taking a few calming breaths before saying, "Well, thank you. How about you come in? I could make you a cuppa. Least I can do seeing as you brought my Rose home safely."

"You don't have to do that-" the Doctor said immediately. Tea with Jackie was not on his itinerary.

"My treat, come on in," Jackie insisted.

The Doctor was just about to consider making a break for it when Rose smiled and said, "C'mon, mister Smith!"

Rose gave him a sweet smile, and how could the Doctor say no to that?

 **A/N: Thanks to my reviewers, argwyn2365** **(Thanks!), Seralina (I know, I'm a sucker for Doctor and Rose stories as well. :D And I haven't seen any stories particularly like this one, especially towards later chapters when- well, spoilers!), and WonderfulWhovian (Thank you! You'll just have to wait and see to find out if Rose ever even figures out that 'John Smith' is the Doctor. :P)**

 **Review and Matt Smith will show up at your door as your new tutor*.**

 ***Well, not really, but still review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry this took a little longer than I bargained for. Actually, four days longer than I bargained for. Well, here the next chapter. For any of you acquainted with the first Doctor episode 'The Dalek's Master Plan', you'll get the references in this chapter. :D**

 **Chapter Three**

 **Jammie Dodgers**

The small flat was just as the Doctor remembered it to be. Messy, with a smell of tea in the air. Jackie bustled in clearing the way for the Doctor.

"Sorry for the mess," Jackie apologized sweeping a pile of junk off an armchair and onto the floor, "There just aren't enough hours in the day, eh?" Jackie gestured to the now clean armchair and said, "Oh don't be shy, make yourself at home. I'll go put the kettle on!"

Rose plopped down next to the Doctor and said, "Thank you sir for helping me find my way home."

"Oh, no problem," he said distractedly.

Rose began humming as she pulled out a coloring sheet and began to fill in the picture with crayons. "Oh no," she whispered.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"I colored outside the lines," Rose sobbed.

"What's so wrong about that?" The Doctor asked gently.

"It's just, it's... Wrong," Rose answered.

"Well, if it's so wrong, then you're in luck," the Doctor reached into his suit jacket and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver, "Because I have a magic crayon remover."

Rose's face lit up in joy as the Doctor lowered the Sonic down to her coloring sheet and wiped away any sign of the blue crayon that had ventured outside of the lines.

"Rose, sweetheart," Jackie reentered the room with two cups of tea, "How about you go do your homework while mummy has a chat with this nice man who helped you find your way home."

"Ok, mum," Rose agreed fleeing the living room.

"So, what was your name again?" Jackie asked.

"The... Uh... I'm called John Smith," the Doctor said hastily.

Jackie raised her eyebrow, "Had to think about that for a second, didn't you, John."

"Nope! The name's John Smith! Definitely John Smith. Absolutely, one hundred percent John Smith," the Doctor confirmed unnecessarily flapping his arms around a bit as he narrated this.

"Alright then," Jackie shrugged off the Doctor's odd behavior and instead resolved to find out more about this man who had helped her daughter, "I'm Jackie."

"I know," the Doctor said before mentally slapping himself. He shouldn't know. Well, he knows, but John Smith doesn't. Oh Rassilon, he was going to cause a paradox.

"Oh, Rose told you then?" Jackie laughed. "She doesn't know when to shut her mouth! I told her, she could speak for all of England!"

' _Well, at least I know where she got that expression,'_ the Doctor thought to himself before saying, "Yes, but that's good! Talking is very, very good."

"Yes, seems so," Jackie agreed trying to keep this very awkward conversation flowing. "Rose started talking when she was only a year old! She never stopped, mind you."

"Ah," the Doctor said. Maybe if he said barely anything Jackie would keep talking and he wouldn't have to answer any questions.

"So, what do you do for a living, John?" Jackie asked. So much for the Doctor's plan of not answering any questions.

"I'm a professor, doctor if you will, of... Science," he answered decisively. "A scientist of the Taranium core."

"Taranium Core, never heard of that," Jackie said conversationally. "What does it do?"

"It, uh, well you see, people like me are researching the Taranium to, uh, try and find an alternative energy source in case one day the world runs out of natural gases. It's, er, for a research project.."

"What research project?" Jackie asked.

"The Time Destructor Project," the Doctor answered quickly trying to sound more educated then he was.

"Funny sort of name," Jackie said. "What's it supposed to mean?"

"Yes, well, mister Dalek came up with the name, thought of it as a sort've joke I guess. Uh, see, he thinks that Earth is running out of natural gasses and things, so he wants to find another energy source. So we're running against time itself to find a answer to the problem, thing, before all the natural gasses are used up, yeah. That's why it's called the Time Destructor Project."

Luckily Jackie was happy with this answer and didn't press the matter any further. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief because he knew if he kept going on about the Time Destructor the actual story about the Daleks trying to use it to destroy millions of planet would pop out of his mouth.

"Oh, that sounds like an interesting day job," Jackie said conversationally. "My husband used to be a businessman before he passed. He sold Vitex sports drinks. It never really took off."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," the Doctor said.

"Well, what's done is done they say," Jackie shrugged it off. "How about you? Any Misses John Smith?"

The Doctor was saved by having to answer questions on his romantic life when Rose walked in, "Mummy," she said, "I don't understand my homework."

"Oh, come over here sweetheart, mummy will help you," Jackie said.

Rose showed Jackie her homework and said, "I don't know how to do subtraction. I don't understand it! It makes no sense."

"Oh, look, what did mum tell you about breaking up the tens cullum and adding them to the ones?"

"Like this?" Rose asked.

"Naw, you don't need ten extra ones there, you're only subtracting three from four."

"I'll never get it right!" Rose wailed tossing her pencil down. "I'm gonna fail second form!"

"Now don't say that," the Doctor said pulling out a packet of Jammie Dodgers from his jacket and scattering them across Jackie's coffee table. "Look here, this package of Jammie Dodgers has got ten Jammie Dodgers in it, right?"

"Mhmm," Rose agreed.

"Ok, what's your first problem?" the Doctor asked.

"Fourteen minus nine," Rose read off. "But I don't know how to do it."

"Don't worry about that right now," the Doctor said. "So, let's get fourteen Jammie Dodgers in this pile," he moved the package of ten to one group plus four other loose Jammie Dodgers, "So now we've got a pile of fourteen Jammie Dodgers. Got it?"

"Uh huh," Rose said.

"So, we need to take nine Jammie Dodgers away," the Doctor said.

"But we've only got ten and four to take away," Rose pointed out.

"No, because I can do this," the Doctor opened the package of Jammie Dodgers and the ten cookies spilled out. "And now we've got fourteen singular Jammie Dodgers. All we need to do now is take nine of them away."

The Doctor pulled nine out of the pile and asked, "Count how many we've got left."

"Five," Rose answered.

"So fourteen Jammie Dodgers minus nine Jammie Dodgers equals five Jammie Dodgers," the Doctor surmised.

"Ok," Rose said writing down the answer.

"Now, what's the next problem?" the Doctor asked.

"Fifteen minus six," Rose said.

The Doctor reached into his jacket again and pulled out a large piece of paper and a pen. "So, let's write this one out."

The Doctor wrote a big number fifteen on the paper and turned to Rose, "So, the five stands for five Jammie Dodgers that aren't in a package of ten, and the one in front of the five stands for how many packages of ten we have. So can you put in a pile five Jammie Dodgers and one package of ten Jammie Dodgers?"

Rose compiled and sorted through the Jammie Dodgers until she had fifteen.

"Do you remember what we do next?" the Doctor asked.

"We open the package of Jammie Dodgers?" Rose asked.

"Yes," the Doctor said. Rose tore open the plastic and let the sweet treats spill out.

"Now watch what I do on the paper," the Doctor said. He scratched out the one and placed another one closer to the five. "We no longer have one pack of Jammie Dodgers, we have fifteen loose Jammie Dodgers. See?"

"Ok," Rose said. "Do we take away six from the fifteen Jammie Dodgers now?"

"Yep! That's exactly what we do. How many are we left with?"

"Nine," Rose answered.

"Correct!" the Doctor replied. Rose beamed in accomplishment.

"I think I understand now," she said. "I can do the rest on my own. Thanks mister Smith!"

Rose feld from the room a grin on her face. The Doctor smiled broadly at the seven year old's glee.

"You were really good with her," Jackie's voice made the Doctor jump. He had forgotten she was still in the room.

"Well, she's very easy to teach," the Doctor shrugged.

Jackie's eyes lit up with something that could only mean one thing: an idea. The Doctor immediately started getting cold feet. Jackie with an idea, this was bad.

"I know you're busy with that Time Destructor thing," Jackie said, "But what if you came over here once a week and helped Rose with her homework? God knows I just can't seem to get through with her on the academic things. I'd pay you."

"Oh, well," the Doctor stuttered. This was bad. Really, really bad. It was bad that he was here in the first place, time lines and all that, but he really shouldn't come back once a week for who knows how long.

But then the thought of dying at Lake Silencio popped into his mind and he realised that this would be his only opportunity at seeing Rose again.

"Why not?" the Doctor agreed.

Screw time lines and paradoxes, he was taking all the time he needs before he has to die.

 **A/N: Thanks to my reviewers WonderfulWhovian (Too bad I hadn't thought about that before I started planning out this story, because Jackie killing the Doctor with her tea would be absolutely hilarious! I'm glad you liked the characterization, I often struggle with making sure the characters aren't OOC!), SilverDolphin218 (Thanks!), and Seralina (New chapters are the best, aren't they? Too bad I can never seem to write these fast enough... :D)**

 **You know the drill, the empty box below is empty, and it doesn't need to be. In other words review please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Apologies, as always, I'm late on the chapter. But only by a day! 24 hours isn't that bad... Right? Whatever, I'll just pretend I was punctual.**

 **Chapter Four:**

 **The Trojan Horse**

The Doctor straightened his bow tie once more. Did he look professional? Did professional people wear bow ties? ' _Of course professional people wear bow ties. Bow ties are cool_ ' the Doctor reminded himself..

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and into the dim light of London. He had parked the TARDIS far enough away from the Powell Estate so that neither Rose nor Jackie would hear the TARDIS' landing noise. That could cause a paradox.

He had scheduled a weekly appointment to meet with Rose and help her with her homework mere minutes ago. But thanks to the TARDIS, a whole week had passed for Rose and Jackie. As long as he didn't mess up the landing, the plan was foolproof.

The Doctor purposefully picked up a brisk trot down the streets in the direction of the Powell Estate. He hummed 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road' under his breath as he walked the streets.

A few people gave the bow tie wearing Time Lord humming a song normally sung by people half his size an odd look, but most simply carried on with their day to day activities. And besides, he wasn't the strangest thing on the streets of London.

After a little bit of a stroll, the Doctor neared to the Powell Estate. He climbed the familiar stairs and knocked on apartment 48.

"Hello!" Jackie greeted happily. "C'mon in! Rose is in the living room. Just holler if you need anything, I'll be in here."

Jackie practically shoved the Doctor into the living room where Rose was sitting watching a child's program on the telly. Rose looked up from the singing cartoon and smiled at the Doctor, "Hello Mister Smith!"

"Hi Rose," the Doctor said taking a seat on the couch. Rose stood up and shut the telly off and bounced back to the couch and sat down next to him.

"Mister Smith, guess what?" the Doctor didn't even have time to say 'what' before Rose exclaimed, "I got all my math homework right! Misses Hemingworth said that packages of Jammie Dodgers were an unconventional but effective way to look at subtraction."

"That's great Rose," the Doctor said giving Rose a quick high five. "See, I knew you could do it."

Rose positively beamed at this for a moment before her smile fell, "I don't understand history, though."

"What don't you understand about history?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know about the Tractor Horse," Rose said.

"Trojan Horse you mean?" the Doctor supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, that. Mister Browning did a whole class on it today, but I don't get it," Rose said. "An' he said that the Tractor-"

"Trojan."

"Yeah, whatever. It's gonna be on the quizz to pass second from."

"Well, lucky for you Miss Tyler, I happened to be there when they built the Trojan Horse, so I can tell you all about it."

"You couldn't have been there," Rose said. "That was, like, a million zillion years ago. It was so long ago that the boys wore dresses.

"Do you want to know a secret?" the Doctor asked. Rose leaned in and the Doctor whispered in her ear, "I time traveled."

Rose pulled back and said, "I don't believe you."

"Well, believe it or not, I can teach you about the Trojan Horse," the Doctor said. "So, what do you know so far about it?"

"Uh, there was some sort've fight, and this big wooden horse kinda ate a bunch of people and the people broke out and invaded another place."

"Ok, so forget everything you learned. Let's start at the beginning," the Doctor said. "The Greeks and the city of Troy were at war. The Greeks wanted to take over the city of Troy, but the Trojans were putting up a good fight. The war lasted ten whole years."

"Ten years?" Rose asked incredulously. "That's a long war."

"It was," the Doctor said, "And it would've gone on longer had the Greeks not thought of a great idea. Well, really the Greeks didn't think of it. I might've traveled back in time and prompted them to build a wooden horse. Well, really first I tried to get them to build flying machines to launch themselves over the wall of the city, but that didn't fly- ooh, a pun- and instead I helped them build a horse."

Rose stared at him and the Doctor said, "No, start over. Ten year war between Greeks and the Trojans. Right."

"Yup," Rose agreed.

"So, the battle weary Greeks think of a great idea. There's no way to get into Troy, it's too heavily guarded. But there's no way to take over Troy without getting inside the city. So they build a HUGE wooden horse. It's big enough to fill an entire army. After they built the horse, the Greeks burnt their camp down and make it look as if they left."

"Did they leave?" Rose asked.

"That's the exciting bit," the Doctor said, "They didn't. Instead, all the Greek soldiers went into the wooden horse. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, like I said, I was there, but they all fit. The Greeks left one soldier outside the horse. That soldier brought the wooden horse up to the city of Troy and presented it to the guards. The soldier told the guards that all the Greeks had left and that this was a peace gift."

"But it's not a peace gift," Rose pointed out.

"Yeah, but the Trojans didn't know that. They thought it was a beautiful statue of a wooden horse to honour one of their gods. So, the Trojans let this big wooden horse into the city. Once the horse was in the city, all the Greek soldiers came out and were able to take over the city of Troy from the inside. The Greeks won the war."

"But how'd the Greeks get into the horse?" Rose asked.

"There was a little hatch that they climbed through," the Doctor said, "Like a door, just more hatchy. Trapdoor. That's what I should say. There was a little trapdoor that they climbed through."

"I bet the Trojans were upset that they ever let the horse in," Rose said wisely. She jumped up from the couch and pulled out a worksheet from her bookbag. "Can we fill out this page? Mister Browning said it needs to be handed in tomorrow."

"What's the first question?" the Doctor asked.

"'How long did the Greeks and Trojans fight before the Greeks made the Trojan Horse?' Uh, it was ten years, right?" Rose asked.

"Correct!" the Doctor said as Rose quickly scribbled in the answer, "Next?"

"'Why did the Greeks build the Trojan Horse?' It was because they needed to get into the city, yeah?"

"Correctomundo," the Doctor said. "I should use that word for often. Next question?"

"'What was the element of surprise in the Trojan Horse?' I... Uh..." Rose stuttered.

"Well, what surprised the Trojans about the Trojan Horse?" the Doctor reworded the question.

Rose bit her lip in thought before shrugging and saying, "I dunno."

"It was the soldiers," the Doctor supplied. "Remember? The Trojans didn't know that the Greeks were in the horse, it must've come as a nasty shock to them to find out something they thought was a trophy was actually their city's downfall."

"But, wouldn't the Trojans realize that something was up with a big wooden horse?" Rose asked.

"Well. Er..." the Doctor trailed off thinking about the best way to explain this. "Let's go to the kitchen."

Rose gave him an odd look, but followed the Doctor to the kitchen.

"Let's make tea!" the Doctor said happily. "Grab a mug, grab a tea bag, and let's make a cuppa."

Rose looked utterly lost as she handed the Doctor a mug and a tea bag. The Doctor filled the mug up with water and tossed the cup into the microwave for a minute.

"Mum never likes microwaved tea," Rose said, "She says it's cheating."

"Nevermind that," the Doctor said pulling the mug out of the microwave. "So, let's say this mug of tea represents the Trojan Horse, right? Nothing seems off with a good cuppa."

The Doctor dropped the tea bag into the mug and continued speaking, "To any normal person, except Americans, there's nothing wrong with a nice cup of tea. Making a statue of a giant horse to say 'I'm sorry for trying to destroy your city for ten years' was perfectly normal back then."

"So the wooden horse at the time was like a cup of tea?" Rose confirmed.

"Yup! Except, instead of putting sugar in this cup of tea, we're putting in salt," the Doctor grabbed a salt shaker and shook an immense amount of salt into the cup. "Look at the tea, Rose. Does it look any different than a normal cup of tea?"

"No," Rose said.

"But if you took a sip of this tea, it would be very, very salty and not nice to drink," the Doctor explained. "So even though the Trojan Horse was normal for the time, there was a hidden army, just like there's hidden salt in this cup of tea."

Rose smiled broadly, "I get it," she said.

"Good, let's go write the answer down," the Doctor said walking back to the living room.

"Uh, mister Smith?" Rose asked hesitantly a cheeky grin on her face, "Can we give this tea to my mum?"

"What?" the Doctor asked.

Rose picked up the cup of tea and said, "It'll be just like the Trojan War. Mum will think the tea is a gift, but really it's a surprise attack on her tongue! Mum will drink the tea, just like the guards let the Trojan Horse into the city, and then the salt will take over her mouth! Plus It'll be funny."

"Well who am I to say no to funny?" the Doctor asked.

Rose grabbed the cup of tea and raced out of the kitchen to knock on Jackie's bedroom door.

Jackie opened the door and said, "Rose, is something wrong?"

The Doctor walked up behind Rose and said, "Nothing, Jackie, Rose just wanted to give you a cup of tea she made all by herself."

"Oh, thank you Rose," Jackie said taking the cup of tea and sipping it. She immediately did a spit take.

Jackie had perfect aim when it came to spitting. The salted tea projected right onto the Doctor's face.

The rest of the time the Doctor spent at the Powell Estate was rinsing out his eyes as Rose happily explained to Jackie how the cup of tea represented the Trojan Horse.

Jackie didn't seem amused, but she still scheduled another appointment with the Doctor as Rose's tutor next week.

Jackie didn't notice that the Doctor slipped the money she had given him in return for tutoring Rose back onto the kitchen counter when she wasn't looking.

 **A/N: This format of 'cute cute cute and more cute' will only last a couple more chapters, and then things get a little more serious. But never fear, cuteness will still be in some of the more serious chapters. :D**

 **Thanks to my reviewers WonderfulWhovian (Don't worry, I rant about characters in my reviews too. And yeah, the Doctor will just skip the bits in between. He's not one to travel on the 'slow path'. :D), Prida (I'm glad you like it! And I love feedback no matter what form. You could review with a smiley face and I'd be happy!), and SilverDolphin218 (Thanks! I'm glad 11 is in character. A lot of times I write very unDoctor-y things for 11 and then I have to go through and rewrite half the chapter! Anyway, rambling, I'm just gonna stop now...)**

 **Review and the Doctor will feed Jackie more salty tea in later chapters! Extra points to those who can tell me which episode the Doctor prompts the Greeks to build the Trojan Horse. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Guess what y'all? I'm writing this on my brand new laptop. *Girly Squeal* Well, I'm a day late on the update, but not too shabby considering I've been later on updates. Anyway...**

 **Chapter Five:**

 **Tea With Jackie**

The Doctor quickly fell into a pattern. Materialize the TARDIS a safe distance from the Powell Estate, walk to said Estate, tudor Rose for an hour, walk back to the TARDIS, set in the coordinates for a week from then, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Before he knew it, the Doctor had gone to tudor Rose ten times. He had taught her subjects from the water cycle to multiplication, the Trojan War to studying for a spelling bee. The Doctor vaguely wondered sometimes on his walks to and from the TARDIS for how long he could keep this unhealthy lifestyle up. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind as soon as he reminded himself that he was helping Rose Tyler with her homework. When will this opportunity arise again?

Well, never, since as soon as he abandoned this job, the only other option he had was go to Lake Silencio and die.

That was not an appealing option.

One day, after teaching Rose about how water and ice were actually the same thing, Jackie caught him on his way out.

"How would you like to stay for tea time?" she inquired.

"Oh, I, well, er," the Doctor couldn't form a coherent sentence and he racked his brain for an excuse to get out of tea time with Jackie.

"Oh, you've got other plans," Jackie surmised by the Doctor's floundering for a word.

"Well, not really," the Doctor said before doing a mental facepalm. What did he go and say that for?

"Oh, then why don't you stay?" Jackie asked. "Rose practically adores you. She'll be happy if you stay."

Suddenly Rose appeared behind her mother and whispered, "Did you ask him?"

The Doctor put on his best don't-blow-up-the-earth-we-can-all-come-to-a-reasonable-agreement grin and said, "Jackie has asked me, and I would love to stay for tea," he addressed Rose. Rose positively beamed.

"Great!" she exclaimed.

"I'll go put on the kettle," Jackie offered bustling into the kitchen to busy herself with making tea. Rose bounded into the living room and pulled out a notepad and some crayons she happily asked the Doctor, "Mister Smith? Do you mind if I try and draw you with my crayons?"

"Go ahead," the Doctor said pulling an elaborate pose worthy of Captain Jack. Rose giggled and said, "No, not like that! Uh, turn around. Um, stick your tongue out! Not that far! Wiggle your ears too. Perfect!" Rose squealed and quickly started drawing the bowtie wearing alien in front of her.

"Can I move yet?" the Doctor asked.

"Just one mo," Rose muttered. "Done!"

The Doctor unfroze from his ridiculous pose and went to see what the seven year old had drawn. It looked like a large pink circle with two dots almost at the top, a dot for the nose, and a big smile with a pink blob that the Doctor assumed must be his tongue sticking out.

"Isn't it great?" Rose said happily. "I almost drew in eyebrows, but then I remembered that you don't have any."

"Where's the rest of my body?" the Doctor asked.

"I only drew your face," Rose said. "It's called a mugshot."

"Er, I don't think you should call it that," the Doctor suggested. "Maybe just call it a picture of a head or something."

"Keisha told me that it was called a mugshot," Rose argued now drawing a decapitated cat. "She said that her mum had her's done a while ago by a professional at the police station once."

"Well, let's not call it a mugshot anymore," the Doctor said before changing the subject. "So, what's the cat's name?"

"It's a dog," Rose said filling in the last pink in the cat-dog's ears. "And I dunno what his name is."

"How about Englebert?" the Doctor suggested goofily.

"That's a silly name," Rose said. "No, let's call him Ginger or Leahla."

"What about Shelton or, or, or Olgron," the Doctor joked.

"I'm going to call him Ginger," Rose decided completely ignoring the Doctor and writing 'Ginger' as a caption over the catlike dog.

"Alright, three cups of tea," Jackie said walking into the room with a tray of three mugs and a bowl of sugar cubes.

"Ooh, goodie!" the Doctor said enthusiastically taking his tea and plopping ten sugar cubes into it.

"You've got quite the sweet tooth, don't you John?" Jackie said watching as the tenth sugar cube plopped into the Doctor's tea.

"Yes, I've been told. Once or twice. Thrice or- well, nothing comes next in that progression of numbers," the Doctor trailed off. "Quorce! Made in the 43rd century. Once, twice, thrice, and quorce."

"What are you going on about?" Jackie asked.

"Er, nothing," the Doctor said taking a sip from his tea to distract himself from saying anything else stupid.

Jackie waited for the Doctor to spit out the tea in disgust since he put so much sugar in, but the Doctor swallowed it without a problem. Jackie decided not to question this and instead cast her mind for a new conversation.

"So, John, how's the Time Destructor project going?"

"The what?" the Doctor asked.

"Your work," Jackie said, "It's called the Time Destructor, yeah?"

"Yes! Yes, very Timey Destructor-y. Yes, yes, it's going well. Yeah, very, very, good," the Doctor answered lamely.

"Ah," Jackie agreed. There was an awkward silence before Rose piped up, "Look, mum. I drew Mister Smith."

"Wow, it looks just like him," Jackie said.

"Does it?" the Doctor asked.

Jackie shot him a look before turning back to Rose and saying, "And look at that cat! You've got quite the talent for drawing.

"It's a dog," Rose said, "and I named him Ginger."

"I've always wanted to be Ginger," the Doctor said reminiscently.

"You what?" Jackie asked.

"I've always wanted a cat named Ginger," the Doctor quickly amended.

"I want a cat," Rose said pulling out her crayons and colouring some more.

"We're not getting any pets," Jackie sighed. "I've told you. If you couldn't take care of the hamster, then we can't get a non-caged animal."

"Yeah, yeah," Rose muttered.

Jackie sighed and turned to the Doctor, "Do you have any pets?"

"Er, they come and go over the years," the Doctor said evasively.

"I had a hamster, but it went to heaven," Rose said sadly.

"Good riddance," Jackie muttered under her breath. Rose didn't hear that.

"I had a hamster once. I named him Fred. I've always thought that Fred is a good name. Well, Ramona is better," the Doctor rambled for a moment before cutting himself off and taking another sip of his tea.

"I had a dog growing up," Jackie said. "We named him Fred. Then we found out Fred was a girl and my sister renamed her Frederica. We still called the poor dog Fred."

The Doctor and Rose both laughed.

"Oi, not funny," Jackie said. "The next door neighbor's dog knocked Fred up and we ended up with six Fred Juniors."

"I had a dog for a while," the Doctor said. "K9, very, very smart dog mind you."

"K9, very creative naming there," Jackie said.

"Well, I was very found of the name. I got five different K9's over the years."

Jackie laughed and said, "We got another dog after Fred, named him Fred the Second. Well, we were told Fred the second was a guy. Turns out we needed to rename another dog Frederica."

"Frederica the Second," the Doctor said. "That's got a ring to it."

"Yeah, we shortened it to Rica since we already had a Fred," Jackie said. "Rica was annoying though, always barking and digging holes in the park. I'm not sure if Rica really did get run over by a car or if Mum simply had enough and took her to the pound."

The Doctor laughed. This was a first, laughing at something Jackie said. Jackie being friendly to him.

"What happened to the first Fred?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"My cousins took him when Mum said Fred was too much work," Jackie said. "Mind you, we had just dealt with half a dozen Fred juniors, so it's no surprise Mum wanted all the dogs out."

The coocoo clock on the wall suddenly started making all sorts of odd noises and Jackie looked up. "Oh, look at that! I've been holding you hostage for half an hour now," Jackie joked.

"Yes, yes, I should be off," the Doctor said putting down his empty mug. "I'll see you next week."

"Yeah, next week," Rose said cheerfully placing down her crayons and giving the Doctor a big hug. "Thanks for staying Mister Smith."

From then on out, the Doctor would tudor Rose and spend another half hour at the Powell Estate drinking tea with Jackie. The Doctor was surprised at how much he actually enjoyed Jackie's company. Now that he wasn't trying to take her daughter away from her, Jackie was quite kind to him.

 **A/N: Thanks to my reviewers SilverDolphin218 (I like cute and fluffy as well, and you'll just have to wait to see if Rose ever finds out. *Maniacal laugh*), argwyn2365 (thanks!), and WonderfulWhovian (I hope you had fun when your friends were in town (or if they still are) and trust me, I know about getting behind in fanfiction. Just look at how late I update sometimes! And yes, the Trojan War was mentioned in The Ark, but the episode I was looking for was The Myth Makers, a first Doctor episode where the Doctor actually went to the Trojan War and inspired the idea of the Trojan Horse. It was also mentioned in The Time and the Rani, but The Myth Makers was the main episode. I'll make sure the salt in the tea pops up in a later chapter! :D)**

 **Reviews look even better displayed on my new laptop!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So I'm going away for a few days with no wifi. :( Because of that you're getting this chapter early! :) Rejoice! Shevy B has officially gotten a chapter posted, not late, but early! Take out your cameras, because this is never happening again!**

 **Also, I need to write a short disclaimer: Frederica belongs to my father, all rights reserved. His Frederica growing up wasn't a dog, but a cat; however, the idea of the name and making the gendering mistake is a story from my dad's childhood. Yes, his family made the mistake twice. Twice they named the cat Fred. Twice they had to change it to Frederica when they found out their boy cat was a girl. True story.**

 **Chapter Six:**

 **Festivities and Bullies**

One week flowed into the other, and before the Doctor even noticed it, summer had come over the city of London. He and Jackie made plans to meet up with Rose again once the school year started again. It was to the Doctor's surprise that when he walked in the door of Rose's apartment at the beginning of September that he was met with a facefull of balloons.

"Hello! Is that you Jackie? Did you get turned into a dozen balloons?" the Doctor joked pushing the balloons out of the way and revealing the person carrying them. A very annoyed looking Jackie looked back at him.

"No, you plum," she said shoving the balloons into the guest bedroom. "They're for Rose's birthday party. She's got quite the crowd coming over here tomorrow."

"Mum! Is he here?" Rose asked running into the room and grinning widely when she saw the Doctor. "Mister Smith!" she yelled before hugging him. The Doctor laughed and hugged the seven year old back.

"I've missed you," Rose said. "Summer was boring."

"You don't hear many kids saying that. Well, unless they're Harry Potter," the Doctor mused as Rose released him.

"Who's Harry Potter?" She asked.

"Oh, still a few years too early for that, then," the Doctor sighed.

"John, sometimes you say the funniest things," Jackie said.

The Doctor was relieved from saying anything by Rose piping up, "Mister Smith, are you coming to my birthday party tomorrow?"

"Rose," Jackie warned. "I told you, it's rude to invite people to something the day before."

"You don't have to come, it'd just be cool," Rose said defensively.

"What time is it tomorrow?" the Doctor asked.

Rose's smile brightened, "Four o'clock! We're going to have fish 'n' chips! You should come!"

"Unless you have other plans," Jackie said.

"Nope! I'm free as a bird! I'll definitely be here tomorrow!"

"With a present," Rose added.

"You don't have to get her anything-" Jackie began to say.

"With the best present ever!" the Doctor agreed.

Rose squealed and hugged the Doctor quickly before saying, "C'mon, we've got homework to do."

Jackie watched as her daughter and the man she knew by the name of John Smith disappeared into the living room. Jackie vaguely wondered why she was paying him, he seemed to be enjoying himself more than Rose, but put the thought out of her mind. No grown man in his right mind would enjoy his job, this was all an act he was putting on for Rose.

So why did he agree to come to her birthday party so readily?

Jackie sighed before picking up her struggle with the balloons. There was something strange about that John, she just couldn't place her finger on what.

 **...**

The Doctor spent three hours searching the TARDIS for the perfect birthday present to give Rose. He even window-shopped through the biggest shopping mall in the galaxy and couldn't find the perfect gift for the turning-eight-year-old.

That was until a great idea hit him.

The Doctor quickly got the gift ready and stowed it away in his suit jacket (thank Rassilon for bigger on the inside technology). He grinned as he set in the coordinates and piloted the TARDIS to his usual spot by the Powell Estate.

By the time the Doctor got to the party, it was in full swing. Music was blasting from a radio in one corner and fish 'n' chips were already being served. A bunch of little kids swarmed the living room while the adults had a conversation in the kitchen. Naturally the Doctor levitated towards the kids.

"Mister Smith!" Rose greeted him as enthusiastically as always and a couple of kids snickered behind her.

"Oi," Rose said turning around to the small group of kids sounding remarkably like her mother, "Don't laugh at me. It's my birthday."

"We weren't laughing at you," a little boy said.

"Hmph," Rose grumbled before turning to the crowd of kids and saying, "Who wants to play tag?"

It turns out that when a grown up, AKA the Doctor, joins a game of tag with children 1000 years younger than him, he becomes the ultimate target. The game quickly turned from tag to 'chase the Doctor around Jackie's flat'. However, the newfound game came to a abrupt stop when Keisha accidently bumped into lamp and broke it.

"Oh no, that's mum's favorite lamp!" Rose exclaimed running over to the destroyed lamp.

"We should just walk away, she'll never notice," Jimmy argued. "It's just a lamp."

"What's going on in here?" Jackie said coming into the living room as if sensing the disbehaving kids from the kitchen. She saw the broken lamp and sighed. "Alright, no more roughhousing you all. Take a seat, Rose'll open presents and then we'll eat cake."

The kids cheered and immediately started selecting the largest bags for Rose to open first. The Doctor watched as she opened present after present ranging from the average gift card to coloring books.

As Rose neared the end of her mountain of presents, the Doctor quickly stepped out of the room and protruded his gift from one of his bigger on the inside pockets before heading back into the living room.

"That's all the presents!" Shareen was yelling. "CAKE TIME!"

All the children cheered before the Doctor said, "One last present for the birthday girl." He handed over the gift, a small pet carrier. Rose eyed it suspiciously before looking through the bars of the front grill and screaming loudly. She immediately scrambled to open the latch and removed a kitten from the inside of the pet carrier.

"Awwww," everyone chorused but Jackie who looked at the Doctor with a stare of unbelief.

"IT'S SO CUTE!" Rose screamed. The kitten looked terrified at the loud outburst from her new owner and meowed pathetically.

Rose crushed the cat into a hug, before hugging the Doctor, and then shoving the kitten in her mum's face and all her friends in turn. Jackie's stare had gone to the kitten as if she was already planning ways to murder the small animal.

"Now, listen Rose," the Doctor said. "You've got to take care of the kitten yourself, right? Jackie's not going to do any of the work, and if you don't do the work than I'll just have to take little Fred back."

"Is that its name? Fred?" Rose questioned.

"Well, Frederica the third," the Doctor said. "You're mum had two dogs growing up named Fred, so why don't you continue that tradition with a cat?"

Rose smiled and said, "What do you think, mum? Can we keep it?"

"Well," Jackie muttered.

"It is a present," Rose pointed out.

Jackie sighed in defeat and said, "We can keep it. As long as we keep the name Frederica the third."

Rose squealed and hugged the Doctor once more before tying a balloon around the kitten's middle and saying, "C'mon, Frederica, let's go get you some cake."

 **...**

The rest of the party passed relatively quickly. All the adults and their respective children had to go somewhere, and after a little bit all that was left was Rose and her friends Keisha, Shareen, and Jimmy.

The kids went off into Rose's bedroom with Frederica the Third while the remaining parents helped clean up the mess the kids had made. The Doctor insisted on staying to clean even though Jackie told him he could leave if he liked.

It was only when Jackie practically forced the remaining guests out of the house that the Doctor agreed that it was time to go. Before he left he stuck his head in the bedroom to say goodbye to Rose, but bit his tongue as he saw the scene in front of him.

Rose was holding back tears and Keisha was saying, "Don't cry, it's fine. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Yeah, Rose, you just need to stop kissing up to the teachers, that's all," Shareen agreed.

"No one likes a teacher's pet," Jimmy added.

"Have I really been a teacher's pet?" Rose asked.

"Well, you've been raising your hand more than anyone else, and you keep getting better scores than others on the quizzes," Keisha pointed out.

"And you have a tutor," Shareen snickered.

"What's so wrong about Mister Smith?" Rose asked.

"Only teacher's pets get tutors," Jimmy responded.

"Yeah, that and stupid people," Shareen added.

"Alright, from now on I'm going to stop being a teacher's pet," Rose decided.

"So no more tutor and amazing scores on the quizzes?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, no one likes a smart alek," Keisha piped up.

"Yeah, no more Mister Smith and no more 100 percent of quizzes," Rose agreed eagerly.

The three other kids in the room smiled and Shareen pulled Rose into a hug. "It's good to have you back, Rose, you were so annoying when you were smart!"

The Doctor swallowed and knocked on the door gently so that the kids realized his presence.

"Yeah?" Jimmy asked cooly.

"I think that you shouldn't tell Rose what she can and can't do," the Doctor said simply. "Being smart isn't a bad thing."

"Yeah it is," Rose said. "No one likes a smart alek. Bye, Mister Smith."

The Doctor wanted to retort, convince Rose that school was good, and being smart was one of the best things in the world and nothing to be ashamed of, but then he realized it would make no difference. So instead he nodded and said, "Goodbye Rose."

The walk back to the TARDIS seemed to take longer than ever.

 **A/N: Incase you were wondering, Frederica the third is my own creation. Sadly my dad's family only made the mistake of naming a girl cat Fred twice.**

 **And the annual response to the reviewers: brothermine (thanks!), WonderfulWhovian (yeah, Time Destructor-y... Not the best line of dialogue I've written, but very Matt Smith-y! And thanks for the Fred/Frederica hugs, I hope you like Frederica the Third. :D), thedestroyerofXD (Thanks a bunch! Well, I could tell you where I plan on taking this story with Rose finding out about the Doctor, but that would ruin the fun. But I will tell you that Jack may be making an appearance.), and Amelia Serrenn (Thanks so much for all your reviews, not only on this story, but all of my finished stories. It really means alot to me. I'm glad you're enjoying this story so far!)**

 **Love the chapter? Hate the chapter? I love all feedback! In other words, review. Please?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm back from vacation! As much as I loved it, I'm glad to be home. Going without wifi, even for less than a week, was torture! No email, no cultbox, no official Doctor Who website... Wow, that came out even geekier than intended...**

 **In case you're wondering... Highlight of my vacation: I FINALLY GOT TO TRY A SOUFFLE! I kept saying 'The souffle isn't the souffle, the souffle is the recipe' the entire dinner. XD**

 **So I wanted to address a grammer issue that Guest pointed out in their review. Tutor and tudor are two different words.** _ **To tudor**_ **is the verb,** _ **tutor**_ **is the title for the person who tudors another. Have I confused you yet? So I'm not actually switching around words, simply trying to use proper grammer. I apologize for any confusion.**

 **Anyway, enough of my rambling and on with the story!**

 **Chapter Seven:**

 **It's Not the End**

The Doctor flew the TARDIS to the next week, but instead of being greeted by Rose as usual, Jackie was waiting at the door. She told him that his sessions with Rose would be best canceled. Rose is doing much better in school, anyway, and she should be fine continuing on her own. The Doctor didn't even speak, just turned his heels and walked back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor stepped into the TARDIS lonelier than ever. The TARDIS greeted him with a welcoming humm, but it didn't lift the Doctor's spirits one bit. Instead he started to pace the console room running his hand through his still-not-ginger hair.

"Why did you take me there, eh?" the Doctor asked angrily. "Just another person who I couldn't help. Just another person who I SCREWED UP!"

The Doctor slammed his fists down on the console in his anger and the TARDIS recoiled slightly. Her Thief was angry, and that was never good.

"She's seven, no eight years old, and I couldn't help her! Her friends convinced her that I couldn't help her, and guess what? They were right."

The Doctor sighed and put his head in his hands. He leaned back against the console and whispered, "I knew she never did well in school, and I knew that it was partially because she wanted to dumb herself down for her friends... But I thought I could change that."

The Doctor sighed, "Looks like I was wrong. I can't change anything. Time is as it should be. Rose gets better grades in second form, sure, but everything else stays the same."

The Doctor stepped backwards and took a seat on the stairs. He stayed like that for a while before getting up and setting the TARDIS into flight.

"Utah, Lake Silencio, April 22nd, 2011. It's time for me to die," he said softly to himself. Just as the Doctor launched the TARDIS into the Vortex, the TARDIS phone began to ring. The Doctor's brows furrowed. People who had the TARDIS number were extraordinarily rare.

"Hello?" The Doctor asked picking up the phone.

" _Hello, is this John Smith?"_ a familiar voice asked from the other end of the line.

"Jackie?" the Doctor asked into the phone. He would recognize that voice anywhere.

" _Oh good, it's still your number then,"_ Jackie said on the other side of the line. " _You never know. I tried to call Bev the other day and her number had changed."_

"Oh, right," the Doctor said in lack of what else to say.

" _So, John, I was wondering if you could come back and tudor Rose. I know it's been a very long time, but she's falling behind in schools again, and I can't seem to help her."_

Realization hit the Doctor. When in the Vortex, all incoming calls hit the TARDIS at once. The TARDIS redirected the calls to the appropriate time and place in his Time Stream. Though minutes had passed for him, months, maybe years, had passed for Jackie.

"You want me to come back to tudor Rose?" the Doctor asked disbelievingly.

" _Well, if you'd still want to be her tutor, then yes,"_ Jackie said through the phone.

A few things flitted through the Doctor's mind, the first being that of course he would tudor Rose! The second being, there's no way he could be Rose's tutor for any longer. He had to get to Lake Silencio. He couldn't put it off any longer.

"Jackie, I really can't-" the Doctor began to say but was cut off by the TARDIS violently shifting in the Vortex and sending him flying into the railing around the console. He grabbed ahold of the railing and regained his balance and tried to continue, "I mean, I really can't-" the TARDIS flung him to the other side of the room, "Not right now-" the TARDIS shocked him as he touched the console in attempt to activate the stabilizers. "Oh alright! I'll tudor Rose!" the Doctor exclaimed. The TARDIS immediately righted herself and the Doctor glared at the Time Rotor happily pumping at a normal speed.

" _What's going on? What's all that noise in the background?"_ Jackie asked confused.

"It's nothing, nothing at all. I'll be happy to be Rose's tutor again," the Doctor said decisively.

" _Oh, good,"_ Jackie said happily. " _What time works for you?"_

"Anytime," the Doctor said before hastily adding, "Y'know, after four in the evening because of the Time Destructor Project and all."

" _Does five on Thursday work for you?"_ Jackie asked.

"Yes, Thursday is perfect," the Doctor said. "Okay. Okey dokey. Okey dokey artichokey. Not that you're an artichoke. What was I saying?" the Doctor rambled.

" _I don't know,"_ Jackie replied.

"Erm, right then. I'll just go now. Important Time Destructor-y boring job related stuff to do. Ish," the Doctor stuttered.

" _Right, I'll see you Thursday."_

"Oh! Wait, before you hang up, what year?"

" _What?"_

"What year is it. Now."

" _Have you been living under a rock?"_

"No, in a Police Box."

" _I swear, you say the strangest things,"_ Jackie chuckled before saying, " _Thursday, September the 26th, five o'clock, 2002. Got that?"_

"Yes. Right-o. Thank you. 2002. That's a great year. Yep. Right. Uh, I've got to go. Uh, things to do. Job-y boring human paperwork stuff to fill out. Yeah."

" _Bye John,"_ Jackie laughed through it.

"Yes. Bye," the Doctor said before hanging up the phone. He turned and grinned manically setting the coordinates into the TARDIS.

"September the 26th, five o'clock, 2002, here I come!" the Doctor exclaimed pulling the lever down and sending the TARDIS flying through the Vortex.

 **...**

The Doctor didn't think very much about the year he was traveling through. He didn't process that September 2002 would put Rose at the age of 16. As the Doctor knocked on the door of the Powell Estate, he was still expecting a eight year old to open the door and grin at him. Much to his shock, Rose was now looking eye to eye with him, and her once dirty blonde hair had been dyed an unnatural shade of yellow. Jackie too looked older, with more lines on her face.

"Mister Smith," Rose said awkwardly holding out her hand. The Doctor took her hand and shook it. He didn't really know what to say, so it was lucky that Jackie was there to break the tension.

"Look at you!" she exclaimed pulling the Doctor into the Powell Estate. "Blimey, you don't look a day older than you did eight years ago! Are you sure that that Time Destructor Project isn't an anti-aging research project."

"I wish," the Doctor said lightly.

Jackie laughed and said, "Well, you better tell me what you do to keep the wrinkles away."

"Mum, stop antagonizing him," Rose said crossly.

"Antagonizing, that's a long word, sweetheart," Jackie said.

"You're the one who wants me to start using my vocabulary words in everyday life," Rose retorted stomping off into the kitchen.

Jackie winced and said to the Doctor, "She doesn't like that I'm making her study. She wants to drop out of school, not even take her A levels. You've gotta help me, John. You were so good with her when she was little... I just, I don't understand a single word in her vocabulary assignments, and I can't do numbers and letters at the same time like she's doing in math."

"What subjects is she taking this year?" the Doctor asked.

"Algebra two, Physics, World History, American Literature, a French class, and an art class, all of which she's failing. Mind you, I can understand the art. It hasn't improved much since she was seven."

"I HEARD THAT!" Rose screamed from in the kitchen. Jackie blushed and the Doctor let out a short laugh before saying, "I'd better help Rose with her homework then."

"Yeah, I'll make tea," Jackie offered shooing the Doctor into the living room. Rose walked out of the kitchen and sat herself down on the couch next to the Doctor.

"So," she said lamely pulling out papers and notes, "I've got math homework and more math homework, and a vocabulary test I've got to prepare for."

"Let's start with the double math," the Doctor said watching as Rose pulled out her papers until she came up with a packet that was labeled 'DUE ON FRIDAY'. None of the problems were done.

"I just don't get it," Rose said softly looking down at the problems. "I don't understand if X is greater than three and smaller than ten how to graph it along with Y which is greater than two and smaller than four."

The Doctor stared at the graphs and complex problems that were on the sheet. He of course knew how to solve them, but explaining them to someone else was the problem. "Ok, let's start with this," he muttered pulling out some scrap paper and beginning to work through the problem.

Rose watched him and listened as he explained the steps to solving the problem before he handed it over to Rose. At first she needed tips from the Doctor every two seconds to get it right, but by the tenth problem she barely needed any help. They were halfway through the packet by the time Jackie came in to tell them that they had been working for an hour.

"Has it really been that long?" Rose asked looking at how much she had done. "We didn't even get to the vocabulary."

"I'm sure you'll do fine with that," the Doctor assured her. "Vocabulary is just a bunch of memorizing. As long as you put your mind to it, you'll be able to pass easily."

"See, sweetheart, that's what I said," Jackie pointed out with a look that clearly said 'I told you so'.

"Yeah, whatever," Rose muttered.

"Are you staying for tea?" Jackie asked.

"Why not?" the Doctor said.

And just like that, the Doctor found himself once again visiting the Powell Estate every week, the difference now being that Rose was eight years older and now had much more difficult subjects.

The biggest difference though was the nagging in the back of his head about his impending doom at Lake Silencio.

 **A/N: Thanks to my reviewers WonderfulWhovian (Yes, John/Doctor is returned to Rose's life. And I agree that being smart is not a setback at all, or an annoyance, but I've always thought of Rose's friends as a reason for her not being that great of a student. That's just my portrayal. I'm glad you like the chapter!), the DestroyerofXD (Thank you! And as for Rose being a little too easy to persuade, I don't pretend to be a perfect author, and I know that sometimes my stories will be hard to follow. I appreciate the feedback and will definitely try to keep things like that in mind!), and Guest (Thanks for the review! I hate bullies as well, and hated writing them in the last chapter. I covered the tutor/tudor thing in the first author's note just to clear up the confusion you and any other readers may have. I really appreciate your feedback, I didn't know that tutor and tudor were two different words until I started writing this story! :D)**

 **Reviews are better than the souffle I had on vacation!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Two. Days. Late. ekuraghv (that was me slamming my head against the keyboard). I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Anyway, quick note, the salt in the tea will be returning next chapter. Never fear, I keep my promises!**

 **Also, this chapter was originally designed to be two separate chapters, but they were too small, so I combined them. It doesn't flow perfectly, so I apologize in advance for that.**

 **Chapter Eight:**

 **Pun War**

The Doctor once again found himself falling into a rhythm. He visited Rose once a week -well, a week for her, mere minutes for him- and would tutor her on whatever she needed academic help with. He always found a way to explain it to her, and Rose increased her grades by a tenfold in the next few weeks.

The one thing that the Doctor was finding hard to deal with was the similarities of this Rose to the Rose he traveled with. Every time he looked at Rose, both his hearts would rip in two. Even when he blinked and turned his gaze back to her he would get a stab in the gut.

She looked just like, well, _Rose_. The Rose who he lo-

The Rose who he liked. A lot.

But she was sixteen now. That wasn't happening. Highly inappropriate. Nope.

It still hurt, though, to look at Rose, his pink and yellow human. Every time he turned his eyes to her, it would reconcile the feeling of pain and loss that he felt after Bad Wolf Bay, and the sentence that he never finished.

The sentence his clone finished.

The similarities between this Rose, and _his_ Rose though, really stopped after the physical appearance. This Rose never seemed to smile. It was as if someone sculpted her with a permanent scowl on her face. This Rose didn't laugh at his stupid jokes, she would just give him a weird look and continue with her homework.

But this was the day that would end.

This was the day the Doctor would make Rose Tyler smile.

 **...**

Rose slammed down her pencil and huffed in frustration, "I can't do it," she declared. "It's impossible."

"Oh, nothing is impossible," the Doctor said readying his pun. "Except an antigravity book. It's impossible to put down."

Rose stared at him and then asked, "Did you just make a pun?"

"Maybe."

"How about you explain this problem?" she asked a little annoyed.

"Well, first you need to know the history of algebra," the Doctor grinned devilishly. "Do you know who invented algebra."

"I dunno? How'm I supposed to know?"

"It was invented by a clever _X_ -pert."

"Are you trying to be funny, cause it's not working," Rose deadpanned.

"I wish I was a funny hill, because then I'd be hill-arius."

"Unless you want me to strangle you-"

"Why are you so negative? I'll have to take your absolute value," the Doctor fired back.

Rose looked at him for a moment before she cracked a small grin. The Doctor beamed back at her and said, "Did I just see a smile?"

"No."

"I think I did," the Doctor insisted.

Finally Rose burst out laughing and the Doctor grinned broadly. "There it is. First rule for doing math, laughing before a problem."

"Yep, all I need's my tutor... Well, you're not a teacher, more of a friend... Let's just call you an alge-bro, yeah?"

"You didn't," the Doctor gasped in shock.

"Beat that," Rose grinned.

"I'm glad I taught you well. You will make a good eye, the pupil, to be specific," the Doctor punned easily.

"That's pathetic."

"You're not giving me much to work with," the Doctor defended.

"I wish I was a frog," Rose said suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because they eat whatever bugs them," Rose said laughing at her own joke.

"Have you heard the pun about the roof?" the Doctor asked. "Oh, nevermind. It's over your head."

"Well, I'd tell you a story about a broken pencil, but it's pointless."

The Doctor paused and said, "Did you hear about the man who got his whole left side cut off? He's alright now."

"I'd tell you a chemistry joke, but I know I wouldn't get a reaction," Rose joked easily.

"A friend of mine tried to annoy me with bird puns, but then I realized toucan play at that game," the Doctor said.

Rose knit her eyebrows and muttered, "Sorry, I'm all out of puns."

"I'm the winner!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah," Rose tried to sound cross but ended up laughing. "Anyway, back to algebra, yeah?"

"You're no fun," the Doctor puffed.

Rose laughed again and the Doctor grinned back. Even though it hurt everytime he looked at Rose Tyler, it was better to look at a happy Rose than a sad Rose.

 **...**

And that's how the pun war began. Every week Rose would study up on pathetic puns and jokes before the Doctor came over. He and she would then keep a tally of how many puns they could slip into an hour long tutoring session. Maybe it was the Doctor's imagination, but Rose looked happier than before they started the pun war.

No, Pun War, it deserves capitalization.

From jokes about taking a day off at a calendar factory to balloons getting close to needles because they wanted to be a 'pop star', the Pun War added a fun element to the otherwise dull homework.

 **...**

Two months after the pun war started, the Doctor found himself becoming a close friend to not only Rose, but Jackie.

The mere thought sends shivers down his spine, but it's true.

Jackie began to once again inviting the Doctor to stay for tea after his hour long tutoring session with Rose. It seemed that Jackie could be quite accommodating when he wasn't stealing her daughter away.

"Do you really want _ten sugars_ in your tea?" Jackie asks this every time. Every time the Doctor replies with, "Yes, but _eleven_ would be nice."

He would then mentally pat himself on the back for the good pun. This Pun War was really improving his punning skills.

"Do you ever get cavities?" Rose mused plopping two sugars into hers.

"No."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Jackie said. "What toothpaste do you use?"

"Er, uh, paste for teeth. Erm. Yeah," the Doctor stuttered. He couldn't say that he actually used toothpaste invented eight thousand years from now.

"Paste for teeth," Jackie repeated blandly giving the Doctor 'I think you're off your rocker' look. "I'll have to look for that in the shops."

"Use my name and you get half off," the Doctor said.

Rose snorted, "I'd be more likely to use your name when shopping for bowties."

"Bowties are cool," the Doctor defended.

"Yeah, sure, and that fez you came in last week," Jackie said.

"Fezes are cool!"

"Do you just have a format of 'insert article of clothing here's, are cool'?" Rose mused.

"Er, maybe," the Doctor admitted.

Jackie laughed and Rose gave a sort of half smile.

"Uh, mister Smith, I have to tell you something before you go," Rose said completely off subject.

"Mm?" the Doctor asked.

"There's gonna be no tudor session next week cause I'm celebrating my six month anniversary with my boyfriend. Just so you know," Rose looked awkwardly down at the floor.

Jackie rolled her eyes and interjected, "She doesn't want to tell you cause she thinks you'll be upset or something."

"Mum!" Rose exclaimed in embarrassment.

"If she gave her teachers half as much respect as she gives you, she wouldn't be in detention once a month."

"Mum," Rose said exasperatedly, "I've just never missed one of my tudor sessions, that's all. It just feels a little weird."

"It's fine," the Doctor said not mentioning that one week made no difference to him, he would just skip over it.

"See, I told you sweetheart," Jackie said. "Now why don't you drink your tea. It's rude to not drink tea that your given. Refusing tea is how wars start."

 **...**

After tea with the Tylers (ooh, tea with the Tylers, that has a ring to it), the Doctor went back to the TARDIS and set the coordinates for two weeks later. With a pull of a lever, the TARDIS materialized and the Doctor stepped out.

The walk to the Powell estate was as normal as ever, except for the posters that now were nailed to every lamppost and available wall. The Doctor didn't notice them.

He saw the poster as he was walking up the staircase to the Powell estate. He didn't give it a second glance though, it was probably just a missing dog.

The Doctor knocked on the Tyler's door and waited for a few seconds. He knocked again after half a minute. He heard some shuffling and then a woman opened the door.

"Hello," she said.

"Er, hello, is Jackie home?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, do you want to see her?" the woman asked.

"Not exactly, I have a tudor session with her daughter, Rose."

The woman looked at him oddly, "You haven't heard?" she asked incredulously.

"What? What haven't I heard?" the Doctor asked.

The lady hesitated and said, "Rose disappeared last week after her six month anniversary date with Jimmy Stone. Jackie isn't really in a fit state to see anyone right now. Er, I'm Bev, by the way. I'm looking after Jackie, for now. Uh, take a flyer. We're trying to pass them out."

Bev handed him one of the flyers that he had seen plastered everywhere.

And Rose's face was on the front.

 **A/N: I'll update on time, I promise! You won't be in suspense for long.**

 **Thanks to my reviewers WonderfulWhovian (Thanks! I enjoyed writing younger Rose, but honestly like editing the older Rose chapters. Maybe it's because when I was writing for young Rose, it was almost a little more OC-like. And maybe in the future I'll explain why the TARDIS feels so strongly about the Doctor tutoring Rose...), and SilverDolphin218 (Three weeks without a laptop... Geez, I would go mad. I'm glad that the whole tudor vs tutor thing made sense. I got confused when spell check was changing around my tudor and tutor stuff, so I ended up learning a lot about that one verb and noun. Well, you learn something new every day!)**

 **** _ **Rose is pink and yellow,**_

 _ **The TARDIS is blue,**_

 _ **I can't write poetry,**_

 _ **But I love reviews!**_

 **PS: Since Doctor Who: the Movie came out on bluray this week, I added in a little something from it in this chapter. Did anyone catch it?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Ugh, I decided to watch the End of Time part II (for the hundredth time), and good grief, I forgot how much I cry! I mean, I thought nothing could get worse than Five unraveling Four's scarf, but geez, I forgot how emotional Russell T Davies made Ten's regeneration! I think I cried more watching Tennant regenerate than I do at the end of Doomsday! Anyway, I'm just going to sit here crying while you read this next chapter...**

 **Chapter Nine:**

 **The Missing Rose**

The Doctor stared at the poster in his hands for a moment before pushing past Bev and entering the Tyler's flat. The Doctor stormed into the living room and found Jackie on the couch. She was sobbing and had three boxes of tissues surrounding her.

Filled with anxiety the Doctor didn't even bother to take into account how much Jackie was hurting. He simply screamed, "Where's Rose?! What happened?!"

Jackie ceased her crying and stared up at him, "Oh my god. I forgot to cancel the tudor session. I'm sorry, I just... It's... I can't even think right now!" Jackie gave a little sob before blowing her nose quite loudly on one of the tissues.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bev yelled at the Doctor storming in. "Give Jackie some space, don't barge in here and yell at her!"

The Doctor looked flabbergast between the uncomposed Jackie and the angry Bev before saying, "I-I-I'm sorry, I just want to know what happened to Rose."

"Listen, I think you should leave," Bev began saying before Jackie interrupted.

"No... Bev, he's fine. A little company would be good..." Jackie trailed off before regaining her train of thoughts and telling Bev, "Why don't you make us some tea? John can join us. If you want," she added turning to look at the Doctor.

"Yes, yes tea would be great," the Doctor said.

Bev nodded and went into the kitchen quickly to prepare tea.

"What happened?" the Doctor demanded again as soon as Bev was out of earshot.

Jackie sniffled and said, "She just disappeared. Last week, she went on her six month anniversary with that boy... Jimmy Stone. He... He always seemed like a nice kid. He and Rose always were in the same classes growing up... What she didn't tell me was that he had been held back in first form four times! He's, he's twenty now! And... I would never let Rose date someone that's that much older than her! She's sixteen! And they went on the six month anniversary date and didn't come back. Neither of them. I found out the truth about Jimmy at the police station." Jackie sniffled again and the Doctor mentally slapped himself.

What was he thinking? How could he forget something like this? Of course Rose went missing. She was always going to go missing. All because of that Jimmy Stone.

Rose had told him about Jimmy back when he was all big ears and leather jacket. Rose told him about how Jimmy was an aspiring musician. He promised they'd make it big together. And she ran away with him. No warning to Jackie, no note, not even telling her friends. She lived with him for five months until he dumped her back home, 800 pounds in debt.

To pay off the debt, Rose never got her A-levels, instead went to work in a shop.

How could he have forgotten?

Jackie took a shuttering breath before continuing, "It's been a week. She still hasn't come home. And neither's Jimmy Stone. The whole of London's looking for them."

Jackie gave another sob and buried her face into her hands. "But what if he's kidnaped her? Or... Murdered her? What's that awful man done to my daughter?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," the Doctor assured Jackie awkwardly sitting down next to her on the couch and patting her on the shoulder.

Jackie gave him a watery smile and said, "I hope you're right."

"I know I'm right," the Doctor said with a grin.

"Here we go, three cups of tea," Bev said entering the room. "Jackie, I think we're all out of sugar cubes. Should I run to the store or should we just drink unsweetened tea?"

"Oh, I think I've got some of those artificial sweeteners in the kitchen. They should work," Jackie said.

"I'll go grab them," Bev said immediately scurrying into the kitchen.

Jackie smiled and turned to the Doctor, "Mind you, I'm gonna be sad when she leaves. Bev's staying with me for now... Just to help out, y'know? It's not a big deal, she lives next door, but still."

The Doctor smiled, "Bev seems like a good person."

"Oh, for sure," Jackie agreed. "Most people have just been dropping off lasagna. I have enough food to feed an army! Bev's been driving some of it over to the local soup kitchen."

"Here we are!" Bev exclaimed bursting into the room with a box of sweeteners in her arms. She set it down and Jackie took out two and poured them into her tea. The Doctor and Bev followed suit.

The Doctor poured ten of the packets into his tea.

"Be careful, you'll get cavities," Bev warned giving the Doctor a 'you're out of your mind' look.

As soon as Bev said that Jackie burst into tears again. Bev looked on bewildered for a moment before wrapping her arms around the distressed mother and muttering things like 'there there' and 'it's alright' while the Doctor looked on bewildered.

"I'm sorry," Jackie hiccuped, "It's just that that's what Rose said about his sugary tea." Jackie accepted a tissue from Bev and wiped her tears away trying to compose herself. "I'm sorry. She apologized. "I'm such a mess."

"You have a right to be a mess right now," Bev assured her. "In fact, if you _weren't_ a emotional mess right now, I'd be concerned. Now, drink your tea, it'll make you feel better."

Jackie nodded and lifted the tea to her lips and took a sip before immediately spitting it out. And laughing hysterically. "Bev, you grabbed the wrong thing from the kitchen," Jackie choked out.

"What, what is it?" Bev asked.

Jackie was laughing so much now that all she could do was point to the box of 'sugar' packets. The actually label said 'SALT PACKETS'.

"Oh," Bev said before giggling too. "Salty tea, not too good then."

"No, no it's not!" Jackie laughed setting her tea down before glancing at the Doctor. "What the bloody hell are you doing, John?"

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked.

"You're drinking your tea!" Jackie exclaimed. "You put ten packets of salt in that thing!"

"Yummy," the Doctor said taking an exaggerated gulp from the mug.

Jackie laughed and Bev looked on with an air of disgust. Jackie, noticing Bev's obvious confusion as to why this strange bowtie wearing man was drinking disgusting tea answered her unasked question. "You'll find that John is quite a strange sometimes."

"Quite?" Bev asked in amusement picking up her own and Jackie's mug and saying, "I'll make some new tea, and this time I'll bring in the actual sweeteners. Er, John, just continue drinking that."

"Cheers," the Doctor said gulping down the last bit of his tea and placing it on the coffee table before turning to look at Jackie. Immediately he knew he was in trouble at the wistful look on Jackie's face.

"Remember when you and Rose made me that cup of tea filled with salt?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah, yeah I do," the Doctor said. "It was supposed to represent the Trojan Horse."

"Rose thought it was so funny," Jackie continued staring at a blank spot on the wall. "She told everyone about it, even strangers when we were waiting in line at the shops. Then she would surprise everyone by explaining why it was a representation of the Trojan Horse." Jackie chuckled before saying, "You should've seen this one lady's face when she told her a history of the Trojan War... Kept asking how old she was."

"That sounds like Rose," the Doctor said with a small laugh.

"Yeah. Yeah it does," Jackie said before adding, "I wonder if she ever comes home, if she'll be the same."

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked. "Of course when she comes back she'll be the same. She's Rose, isn't she."

"No, that's not what I meant," Jackie said. "I don't want this experience to change her. If she's... If she's even still alive." Jackie sniffed but refrained from crying.

"Of course she's still alive," the Doctor assured her.

"Jimmy could've murdered her," Jackie whispered. "She could be dead."

"She's not, Jackie. I promise," the Doctor said.

"Like you'd know," Jackie said.

"Maybe I do," the Doctor said before Bev returned with tea and proper sweeteners and the conversation returned to a more cheerful one and not one about the possibility of a murder.

 **...**

The Doctor stayed for another hour at the Tyler's flat before heading out. Bev right on his heels with the excuse of 'picking up some actual sugar cubes'. The Doctor knew she just wanted to talk to him, and as soon as they were out of the flat, his suspicions were proved true.

"John, listen, could you do me a favor?" Bev asked him. "Jackie's not in a good place right now, and she shouldn't be. Her daughter's missing. But, you made her smile. I haven't seen her smile all week. Could you just swing around here once a week? Not for very long, just for tea. I'm sure it would put Jackie in a much better place."

"I would love to," the Doctor said without a moment's hesitation. As much as he hated to admit it, he enjoyed Jackie's company. Plus, this meant lake Silencio. Not for a little bit, at least.

"Great," Bev said with a smile. "I'll see you next week then?"

"I'll be there," the Doctor confirmed before turning and walking down the staircase and away from the Powell Estate to where he parked the TARDIS a big happy grin on his face. He was so preoccupied with happy thoughts about not visiting Lake Silencio that he didn't notice Captian Jack Harkness until he all but ran into him.

 **A/N: Like I promised, salty tea and Captain Jack!**

 **Thanks to my reviewers James Birdsong (thanks!), argwyn2365 (The puns were fun to do. The problem with doing puns is suddenly you know a lot of puns and have to put them into your everyday speech. My friends and family are very done with my punning at this point), and SilverDolphin218 (No aliens, unfortunately. Though, that would've been fun to do... For right now, I'm sticking with pretty cannon events, just adding the Doctor to the mix. Well, at least for another few chapters, but SPOILERS!)**

 **Reviews are like bowties, fezzes, stetsons, glasses, and bunkbeds, they're cool.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: OMG, I'm so sorry my poor little followers. I am eight two weeks late. I am a failure! Shame on me! Shame on me... Sorry again about this, life happens. Hopefully I won't go this long without an update again though! I'm entering a very busy time of the year for me, so updates may be a bit inconsistent for a few months. Again, sorry!**

 **Again, just to clear up any confusion, yes tudor is a Welsh dynasty, But it is also a verb.** **To tudor** **is the infinitive. I tutor, you tutor, he/she/it tutors, we tudor, they tutor, and the present participle: tutoring.** **A tutor** **is the title.** **To tudor** **is the verb. Thanks!**

 **Chapter Ten:**

 **Captain Jack Harkness**

 ****Jack had woken up that morning from a bad dream. They happen often, especially when you're immortal and have multiple traumatic deaths in your past. Of course, once awake from a nightmare, it's impossible to fall back to sleep. So, he did what he normally did to pass time: got on the computer and started searching for anything mysterious that could possibly be related to alien activity.

It all seemed to be a lot of boring junk, until the Captain saw a news story about a young girl going missing from London.

Jack didn't even read the girl's name, just read a description. 16 year old girl disappears after her six month anniversary with an older boy. The older boy is missing too. Same old, same old.

It was just as Jack was closing the window that he glanced at the missing girl's name.

And that girl's name was Rose Tyler.

Jack hastily threw on some clothes and grabbed a quick bite to eat before racing out the door and heading to London to investigate.

He went to the Powell Estate first to scan for alien tech. Nothing. Well, he didn't expect that. Nothing alien was suggested in the article he read.

Jack wandered around a bit asking questions about Rose. Everyone knew her and was on the lookout for any clues to her disappearance, but none of them knew anything more than what Jack had read.

Jack decided to stay in London since he still had a two and a half hour ride back to Cardiff. It had been forever since he had taken a day off. Plus he could wander around and look for any clues to Rose's disappearance.

A quick call to Torchwood hub and he was off for the day.

He walked around the city a bit, was asked to take a picture of a bunch of tourists posing in front of a double decker bus (the bus moved before he could snap the picture, much to the disappointment of the tourists), and probably ate his own weight in chips while questioning people about any strange occurrences in the city. Each one said the same thing, "No."

It was only when he was preparing to leave for Cardiff that his mobile phone began to beep. It was an ordinary mobile, except for the small upgrade he gave it so that it could sense alien activity within a ten mile radius. Jack immediately turned on the mobile and pulled up a quick map of where the activity was coming from.

And that alien activity was coming right by the Powell estate.

Jack raced to where the map lead him. A small alley by the Estate. He puzzled over it before he noticed the blue box parked behind a dumpster.

Jack gasped and ran up to the TARDIS knocking briskly. No response. Clearly the Doctor wasn't in.

Jack turned to run out of the alley and tear up all of London looking for the Doctor; however, someone was in his way. A certain bowtie wearing someone.

"Sorry," Jack apologized backing up and looking at the strange man. The man stared back at him in utter shock.

"Jack?" the man asked uncertainly.

"Er, yes. Sorry, do I know you? Oh, don't tell me, you're one of my one night stands, right?"

"No!" the man exclaimed. "No, Jack, it-it-it's me! See?" the man smiled brightly and pulled a face.

"Sorry, not ringing any bells," Jack replied. "Was I drunk when we met? That happens a lot to me too."

"No, it's the Doctor," the man said. "I mean, I'm the Doctor."

"No, you are not," Jack said. "I've met big ears, and unfortunately, you're not him."

"Yes I am," the man replied. "Time Lords have a trick where when we die, we kind of change bodies. Er, regenerate is the proper term. I'm the Doctor, just with a new face."

Jack stared at him for a moment before saying, "Ok, tell me something only the Doctor would know."

"I first met you during World War Two during the London Blitz. You practically destroyed the entire human race to make some money," the man replied.

"Oh c'mon, I was a conman then. I changed," Jack sighed. "Alright, you're the Doctor. I'll believe you. I gotta admit, I miss big ears."

"Oi, they weren't that big," the Doctor replied.

"You keep telling yourself that, Doc," Jack said slapping the Doctor's shoulder.

"How have you been, Captain?" the Doctor asked.

"Pretty well. A little hurt you abandoned me on Satellite Five."

"Ooh, that's where we are in your time stream," the Doctor said more to himself.

"Why'd you do that? You didn't abandon Rose I assume," Jack said accusingly.

"I had to leave you behind," the Doctor said.

"Why?" Jack demanded.

"Because, because you're not right!" the Doctor exclaimed flapping his arms around. "You're a fixed point that shouldn't be fixed. You're a fact that shouldn't coexist with science. You're immortal, but you're human all at the same time, and the TARDIS can't handle that."

"I think you can't handle it, Doc," Jack said coldly. "So, you know I'm immortal. Good, because I want answers. Why am I immortal?"

"I... I can't explain it now," the Doctor said. "Time lines and all. Look, you're going to meet me in the future, well, your future, not my future. You're going to meet me again and I'll explain everything. But I won't remember this, It'll still be in my future, so you can't mention it. Right, make sense? Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey. It's complicated, but you'll get it. I always wondered why you accepted my regeneration so quickly. It must have been because I had already explained it to you in my future, but your past."

"Ok, fine. I'm a ex-Time Agent. I was told about the rules of time. I get it. But what has happened to Rose?"

"Did she ever tell you about Jimmy Stone?" the Doctor asked.

"The idiot who she left school for? Yeah, I'm aware of the story," Jack said.

"Well, Rose might've ran away with him on their six month anniversary. Don't worry, she hasn't been, I don't know, kidnaped by aliens. She is safe, in a manner of speaking."

"Yeah, safe with some bastard named Jimmy Stone," Jack snarled. He sighed and then asked the Doctor, "Why are you here? Is there some alien threat?"

"No, just passing through," the Doctor said evasively. "Don't come to London looking for me. Stay in Cardiff. You'll find me eventually."

"How did you know I live in Cardiff?" Jack asked.

"I can read minds," the Doctor said before walking around Jack and striding towards the TARDIS.

"You can't just leave me here, again," Jack said annoyed. "I'm going with you."

"I'm not leaving, just getting something. I'll be back in a tick!" the Doctor disappeared into the TARDIS. Jack didn't realize that the Doctor had lied to him until he watched the TARDIS dematerializing leaving him behind once again.

 **A/N: Don't worry, that's not the last you'll see of Jack! He will appear once again in the future. Or maybe twice again. We'll see...**

 **Thanks to my reviewers TVH Bookfan (Thanks so much! I don't go to school in Britain, I'm American, so I didn't know the whole 'year things'. Thanks for the review telling me about it. I don't have the time or the patience to go through and change the years in all my chapters, so just pretend that It's year two or something :D), Wonderful Whovian (I am very experienced with the salt-in-the-tea gag. I live in America, so all my friends tease me about my interior British self who drinks tea. They like to slip salt in it when I'm not looking, which gives me quite the shock every time. Although I have never had ten packets of salt at once, I can imagine how awful it would be. Anyway, rambling. Thanks for the review!), SilverDolphin218 (I loved writing the salt in the tea, possibly one of my favorite things I wrote over the course of this story so far. :D Unfortunately, Rose getting her A levels will not happen. :( I'm sticking to canon events (for the most part) for this story. Well, I won't say anymore about that because... SPOILERS!), Seralina (I'm glad you're caught up! Jack will be playing a small role in later chapters, so keep reading!), rlaska (Thanks! And I'll try and fix the Bev/Beth thing today. :D), and last (but not least), Thefriendlycat (Thanks so much! I'm so glad you are enjoying the story! I can't tell you whether or not Jackie will find out that the Doctor is the Doctor. Spoilers and all that! But trust me, you'll find out in later chapters, so stay tuned!)**

 **Wow, six reviews! Keep it up you guys! I don't care if you tell me that this is the worst story in the world, I love to hear feedback. I know I'm not the perfect writer and typos will pop up from time to time, so I'm always open to critiques.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hello peeps. I am sooo sorry about this late update. Life is life, unfortunately, and it gets in the way. To keep up with my normal fanfiction rate over the summer would mean I get no sleep. So here's your update, five weeks late. :( A quick reminder of what has happened since my update is so late: The Doctor became young Rose's tutor, fast forwards ten years, she's sixteen and has run away with Jimmy Stone. The Doctor has begun a friendship with Jackie and is helping her through the loss of Rose. Jack has recently made an appearance in the Doctor's life last chapter; however, the Doctor quickly abandoned him in the fear of ripping time lines. Read the last few chapters again if you need a quick reminder. Again, sooory for the late update. I will try to make sure it does not happen again. :)**

 **Chapter Eleven:**

 **Pictures**

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled a lever and began the dematerialization process. He was even more relieved when he found that Jack had not grabbed on to the side of the TARDIS again. As much as it pained him to hurt his old friend like that, timelines have to stay in place. Even he can't mess with those laws of time.

The TARDIS materialized and the Doctor stepped out. He jogged the few blocks to the Powell Estate and knocked on the Tyler flat's door. There was shuffling inside and Jackie poked her head out. "Oh. John. What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd swing around for tea," the Doctor said swiftly.

"You feel sorry for me," Jackie stated.

"What?" the Doctor asked bewildered.

Jackie looked a bit mad as she said the next line, "Listen, John, I don't need anyone's pity. Alright? I've been given way too much of it recently! Enough lasagna and casserole to feed the world for a day! I'm done! She's gone! I'm... I'll..." Jackie burst into tears and the Doctor looked on in shock.

Bev appeared in the doorway and scooped Jackie into a hug. "C'mon, Jackie. Let's get you a cuppa."

"Erm, bad time?" the Doctor suggested as Bev helped Jackie into the flat.

"No, no! Not at all! Come on in," Bev yelled from the living room.

The Doctor glanced both ways looking for an excuse, any excuse, to leave the emotionally unstable Jackie, but no opportunity arose. Resolutely, he followed Bev indoors.

"So, how have you been?" Bev asked as the Doctor awkwardly seated himself on the sofa.

"Fine. Uh, you?" the Doctor mumbled.

"Oh, dandy! Thanks for asking," Bev said perkily. "Isn't it nice that John came for tea, Jackie?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," Jackie replied. "I'm sorry. I just... She still hasn't showed up. Rose is still missing, and so is that dratted Jimmy Stone. Rose would never leave me without saying so. He kidnaped her. He had to."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," the Doctor assured Jackie.

"I always thought that Jimmy was a nice kid," Jackie mumbled. "If I'd known how old he was, I'd've kept him away from Rose."

"There's nothing you could've done. Don't blame yourself," the Doctor said.

"What'd you know about blaming yourself? Who says I'm blaming myself?" Jackie fired back before sighing. "Ignore that. I'm sorry. Just, everything crazy right now, y'know? Ever since Pete died, Rose has kind've been my anchor. I dunno who I am without her. I'm just an emotional mess."

"If you weren't a bit of an emotional mess right now we'd be worried about you," Bev interrupted Jackie's monologue. "Your daughter is missing. That would make anyone a mess."

"Yeah," the Doctor tacked on along Bev. "But I'm sure Rose is fine."

"How should you know?" Jackie asked miserably. "It's not like you're psychic or anything."

"Do you think she's dead?" the Doctor asked. "Because I don't. I don't think anyone could kill Rose, she'd put up too much of a fight. Think about it, you know your daughter better than anyone, she's got enough insight to get out of any situation life throws at her."

"But she wouldn't just leave me," Jackie stuttered. "I don't think so at least."

"A lot of teenagers run away from home at some point or another. I'm sure Rose will come back," the Doctor said softly patting Jackie's shoulder awkwardly.

"I know that, but almost all of them get into trouble out there on their own. The runaways die sometimes. Rose isn't safe. As long as she's out there, with Jimmy Stone or not, she's in danger."

"Rose is smart though," the Doctor assured Jackie. "I'm absolutely sure that if anything dangerous happened around her, she would have enough sense to get out."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Jackie smiled at the Doctor and said, "You're right. I shouldn't assume the worst. She's alive right now, I can feel it. She'll make it back soon."

Bev entered the room again and asked, "Tea anyone? I brought the salt for John again."

Jackie laughed as she took her tea. The Doctor didn't know that it was the first time Jackie had laughed since his visit last week.

 **...**

Week after week John visited Jackie at tea time. Slowly he saw her regrouping. Bev was making less frequent appearances and by the fourth visit Jackie ran out of lasagna. She laughed more frequently and the Doctor noticed that tissue boxes were no longer placed conveniently around the flat.

Though the tissue boxes and food train was disappearing, pictures of Rose were being put up all over the flat. Every week another picture was on the wall. Rose in her gymnastics uniform with a bronze medal around her neck. Pete with baby Rose in his arms. Mickey teaching Rose how to play chess in the living room.

It was only ten weeks after Rose's disappearance that the Doctor breached the subject of the pictures.

"I like the pictures. Are they new?" the Doctor asked feigning innocence.

"Oh, I've been putting them up all over the house. I just... I know she's not coming back now. At least not anytime soon. It's been almost three months. But I don't want to forget anything. Not one strand of hair, not one temper tantrum. I'm running out of pictures to print out, though," Jackie chuckled. "I've starting hanging up her drawings. I found this the other day."

Jackie plucked a picture off the wall and handed it to the Doctor. He looked at the crayon drawing obviously done by a child and smiled. The drawing might be awful, but the pink bow was unmistakable.

"What happened to Frederica?" the Doctor asked referring to the cat he had gotten Rose on her seventh birthday.

"She's still alive. I just... Without Rose around to take care of her I've given Frederica to Bev. Mind you, I'm thinking of taking her back into the flat soon. I need something to fill my time now that... Well, y'know."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed. "I know what you mean."

"Have you ever lost anyone, John?" Jackie asked suddenly.

The Doctor paused before carefully answering, "Yes. I've lost people."

Jackie's eyes softened, "Who was she then?"

The Doctor gaped at Jackie for a moment. He forgot how intuitive she could be. "How did you know?"

"I can tell," she replied with a small smile. "That's the look I gave when I lost Pete. Do you want to tell me about her?"

The Doctor sighed before saying, "Believe it or not, her name was Rose too. And she was... She was amazing. The most amazing person I ever met. She... I had just gone through a tough part of life and she helped me."

"What happened to her?" Jackie asked kindly.

"She... She couldn't stay with me. I didn't let her. It was either stay with me or, or, or, stay with her family. There was no other option. I can't take a someone away from their family."

"Did she want to stay with you?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah. She did," the Doctor replied softly.

There was a moment of silence before the Doctor jumped up, "Well, I'll be off then! Places to go, things to see. Galaxies to discover! Oceans to cross! I'll see you next week."

And before Jackie could even say goodbye, the Doctor had raced out the door.

 **A/N: Thanks to my reviewers thedestroyerofXD (No romance with sixteen year old Rose. But maybe when Rose gets older- oops. Spoiler. And I love the quote in your review. It's my favorite Hartnell quote!), SilverDolphin218 (I'm glad you liked Captain Jack! He will be coming back in this fic to play a bigger role. He's one of my favorite characters from the show!), Seralina (It broke my heart to do that to Jack. There are only three times when I really hated the Doctor: 1) When 5 tore apart 4's scarf, 2) when 10 went through the Time Lord Victorious phase, and 3) When 9 left Jack behind. Having 11 leave Jack behind was one of the hardest things I had to write!), Guest (Updating is always hard when life gets crazy. Hopefully I'll be able to get chapters up from here on out on a semi-regular basis, but no promises! Thanks for the review, I'm glad you love the story!), and last (but not least) SmartieQueen (Thanks so much! All your questions will be answered next chapter... :D)**

 **Review and tell me how horrible I am for not updating!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Er... Hello! I'm not dead. Things got crazy in my life... In fact, they're still crazy, but I'm making an effort to include fanfiction in that crazy... Hopefully.**

 **Yeah, so, a couple months since I updated. Wow. I can't believe that much time passed. I'm sorry, dear readers, I have failed you... :(**

 **But new chapter! Yay! This is where the T rating comes in. There** _ **will**_ **be mentions of physical and mental abuse in the next few chapters, but none will be too graphic or descriptive. Just be warned...**

 **Chapter 12:**

 **Rose's Return**

 _Riiiiiiing! Riiiiiiing!_

The Doctor's head snapped up. He had just come back from the planet Mogar to pick up something to eat. The TARDIS kitchen was completely out of food, so he had to make a pitstop before his next tea with Jackie.

 _Riiiiiiing!_

The Doctor got up and answered the phone, "Hello?"

" _She's back! Oh John, she's back!"_ the voice screeched at the other end of the line.

"Jackie? Is that you? What's going on?" the Doctor asked.

" _It's Rose! She's come home! She's safe!"_ Jackie yelled hysterically.

"That's great! That's greater than great. That's terrifically great!" the Doctor exclaimed.

" _Oh, I've gotta go! I've got more people to tell. My whole family, everyone! I'm gonna be on the phone all day."_

"Y'know, I could come over and help you out. I mean, if you want. I can make the calls and you can catch up with Rose," the Doctor offered.

" _Oh you don't have to,"_ Jackie began to say.

"No, I insist," the Doctor cut her off. "I'll be over there in five minutes and thirty two seconds."

With that, the Doctor hung up and placed in the coordinates. With a push of a button, and another push of a button, and a kick to the console, the Time Rotor started pumping. Two seconds later, the TARDIS landed with a final weeze and the Doctor ran out onto the streets of London.

By the time the Doctor got to the Powell Estate he was drenched. It was raining, as usual in London, and he forgot to grab an umbrella. He knocked on the door quickly and in a moment it was flung open by Jackie.

"John!" Jackie exclaimed, "You're soaked. Did you not grab a jacket? Come in, come in. I'll grab you a towel, you can dry off your hair at least. I'll make some hot tea too. Rose, put the kettle on!"

The Doctor stepped into the flat and stopped short when he saw Rose. She was putting the kettle on, as Jackie had asked, but her movements were robotic. She was walking with a limp and her hair was cut oddly, as if she had done it herself. She turned around and smiled at John, her lips tight and her eyes devoid of emotion, "Hi, John."

"Rose," he said. "What happened to you?"

"It's nothing. It was stupid," Rose said sadly. "I just, ran away I s'pose. I dunno what I was thinking. Jimmy convinced me."

"No, that's not what I meant," the Doctor said softly. "Sit down, relax. I'll finish making the tea."

Rose nodded and walked out of the kitchen to sit on the couch. The Doctor noted dully that she had a limp. He finished the tea and went into the living room.

"Look at you!" Jackie exclaimed. "You are dripping all over the floor! It must be raining cats and dogs out there!" She handed him the towel and the Doctor toweled of his hair. Rose was looking anywhere but the two of them.

Jackie noticed Rose's uncomfortableness and sat down next to her. "Sweetheart, it's alright," Jackie murmured softly.

"I just..." Rose trailed off. "I just don't want anyone else comin' over today. That alright? John's fine to stay... But, I just don't want to be crowded. Yeah?"

"Yes, of course," Jackie replies. She got up and handed the Doctor a small leather bound book. "Do you mind calling all the numbers in this book? It's immediate family and friends, y'know?"

"Of course!" the Doctor exclaimed. "That is what I am here to do. Help. Be the helper helping you."

Rose giggled from her spot on the couch and the noise made the Doctor smile. Jackie gave him a positively glowing look. "Thank you."

The Doctor went over to the phone and opened the book. He took a deep intake of breath as he looked at the contacts.

There were hundreds. Five on each page. The entire book was filled. He quickly did the math and that equaled about 500 people to phone.

He hesitantly dialed the first number. The phone rang twice before someone picked it up.

" _Hello?_ " a lady answered.

"Erm, hello!" the Doctor replied. "My name is the Doc- I mean, John Smith, and I'm phoning on behalf of Rose Marian Tyler."

" _What? You a reporter or something? Cause I'm not answering any questions. You can bloody well piss off-_ "

"Nononono," the Doctor rushed out. "Rose is back! She came home!"

" _WHAT!?" the lady yelled. "WHEN DID SHE COME BACK?! IS SHE ALRIGHT?! DID THAT AWFUL JIMMY STONE DO ANYTHING-_ "

"She's fine," the Doctor cut her off.

" _I'm coming over there!_ " the lady yelled into the phone.

"No! Rose would prefer to be alone currently."

" _You mean to say that I can't go over there to see my own niece-_!"

"That's all the information I can disclose right now. Bye!" The Doctor slammed the phone down and breathed.

One down, four hundred and ninety nine more to go.

 **...**

Out of the five hundred or so numbers, only three hundred picked up. The other two hundred got messages, which got very confusing as those people began calling back asking questions about Rose.

The people on the other end of the phone ranged from grandparents to Rose's friends. Shareen and Kiera were beyond themselves, screaming into the phone and screeching on the top of their lungs. Despite the fact that the Doctor continued to tell everyone to not to come over, everyone ignored him.

Poor Rose was continually smothered in kisses and hugs and "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"s, which overtime got stressful for even the Doctor to listen to. No one seemed to notice or care that Rose was extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't until Rose declared that she was knackered and going to bed, at which point everyone told her not to worry, whatever she wanted to do, get her rest, they didn't mean to be smothering her... Etc. Etc.

If they really wanted her to rest, they would've heeded the Doctor's advice and not come at all.

When the Doctor finally left the Tyler flat that evening, all the tea in the house had been consumed, Jackie probably had a couple hundred dollars in phone bills, and Rose looked worse than ever.

Rose never told the Doctor what happened between her and Jimmy when she was onboard the TARDIS, just the basics. He convinced her to run away from home, then she ran away from him after six months abroad. The Doctor never pressed the topic. Rose didn't want to tell him, and that was fine. Everyone has things they don't want to disclose.

But he never contemplated the idea that Jimmy might have actually hurt or abused Rose. He had always thought that Rose regretted the decision she made and wanted to forget about it. She never mentioned anything- _ever_ \- about abuse.

However, after seeing the state Rose was in, the Doctor is absolutely certain of the truth.

He doesn't know what hurts more, the fact that someone abused Rose, or the fact she didn't feel comfortable enough to tell him about it.

 **A/N: Angst, angst, angst, and more angst!**

 **Thanks to my reviewers: SilverDolphin218 (Yes, another chapter, one month after the last one, and now this one... Four months after the last chapter. Sorry. Thanks for pointing out that I misspelled 'Pete' last chapter. I went through and fixed it. And Five tore up Four's scarf. Strand. By. Strand. In** _ **Castrovalva**_ **. It was painful to watch... D:), Seralina (I love it when I can update too! I almost held off returning Rose for another chapter, but I just couldn't do that to Jackie :D ), raezie (Thanks so much! And don't be ashamed about your account. Trust me, almost everyone on this site has had an awful 'first fic'. Mine was absolutely abominable! I had to delete it recently :D ), and icykitten1 (Thanks! I hope I can keep up updates as well. :P).**

 **Review and tell me how long those four months were, how incomplete your life was without my marvelous fanfictions streaming in with regular updates...**

 **Or yell at me, cause, let's face it, four months is awful.**

 **:P**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: To the readers who have stuck through and are still reading this even though I haven't updated in 6 months, I want to thank you. From the beginning of this year until now, my life has a been a bit crazy. Unfortunately, real life is quite demanding as of late, and it took away from my writing time. I am sorry for the lack of updatage (is that a word? It is now...) due to a combination of writer's block and simply life. Again, thanks to anyone who has stuck through this story, and if you're new... Erm, hi! Thanks for clicking in!**

 **I can't guarantee anything, but the end of July and all of August look not as crazy as usual. I'm hoping to finish up this story by the end of August... I'm not sure if that thought makes me happy or sad :(**

 **IMPORTANT: I debated long and hard about what might have happened between Rose and Jimmy, and it does not contain anything that falls above Fanfiction's rating T. However,** **there will be graphic depictions of violence in this chapter** **. And lots of angst. Lots of angsty feels. You have been warned...**

 **Chapter 13**

 **Angst Galore**

 _Riiing! Riiing!_

The Doctor muttered a Gallifreyan curse as he dropped the three plates of lasagna he was carrying. Since Rose had returned, people continued to drop into the Powell Estate to say hi. However, they came bearing gifts. Most of them lasagna. Jackie had practically forced the Doctor to take three trays of it the last time he went over for tea.

"Hello?" the Doctor greeted picking up the phone. Naturally, it was Jackie at the other end. Who else would be calling him?

" _Hey John, It's Jackie,_ " Jackie replied. " _Look, I've gotta leave for the store, but no one's at the flat right now. I know Rose's been back for almost a week, but I haven't left her alone yet. She's in no fit state to go out in public. Could you come over and stay with her while I run out?_ "

"Yup, definitely, certainly, sure-can-do," the Doctor replied bobbing around the console flipping switches at random. "I'll be over there in a few minutes."

 **...**

Rose looked better than she did when she first arrived back home. She no longer walked with a limp and her cheeks weren't quite as hollow. However, the haunted look still hung in her eyes, and the dark circles underneath them had only gotten darker.

"Would you like some tea?" Rose offered. Her voice was soft, but no longer hoarse.

"Yes, please," the Doctor responded.

Rose poured him a cup and handed it to him. "Ten sugars. I remembered," she laughs softly to herself, but the sound is forced.

"How many lasagnas do you have?" the Doctor asked.

Rose grimaced, "'Bout a dozen or so in the fridge. Why people bring lasagna, I dunno. Mum and I'd rather have cookies."

The Doctor chuckled, "Your mum tricked me into taking a couple of those lasagnas off her hands. I think she poisoned them though, they were awful."

"Yeah," Rose gave a half hearted smile. "Mum gave you the worst three."

"Oh, that is just pure evil!" the Doctor exclaimed. "After everything I've done for you two, and you go and try to give me food poisoning! I, I am extremely cross right now."

Rose smiled fondly. She suddenly said, "John, you're a doctor, aren't you?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied.

"A doctor of what exactly?"

"A little bit of everything, I guess. Some science, mathematics, physics-"

"Do you know anything about psychology?" Rose asked bluntly.

"I can't say I know a lot, but a little."

"Mum can't afford a therapist... I just need someone to talk to... someone I trust, y'know. Not mum. It would only upset her."

"What's wrong, Rose?"

"I can't tell my friends... They'll never look at me the same... It's just Jimmy... He..." Rose trailed off uncertainly.

"What did he do to you?" The Doctor coaxed.

"Nothing... nothing terrible," Rose said unconvincingly.

"You can tell me, Rose, if it helps," the Doctor said.

Rose hesitated for a moment before launching into her tale. "We had been fighting. He... He was angry. Stormed out of the little flat we were staying at. He came back hours later with a gun. He... He told me to get outta his life. He said I was ruining it. And, and I told him that he was drunk and needed to put the gun down... He loaded it and fired it at me. He was drunk. He missed. He fired it three more times before I was able to run out of there. He chased me down the street with it. I ducked down an alley. I took the next bus to London and didn't look back, and here I am."

"Oh, Rose," the Doctor whispered.

Rose stayed silent for a moment before bursting into tears. In a second, the Doctor was at her side enveloping her into a hug. Rose buried her face in the Doctor's shoulder. The Doctor rubbed small circles on her back. It wasn't anything romantic, just friendly. After a minute Rose pulled back.

"But that's not it," Rose told him sadly. She wiped away tears and trudged through the last bit of her narrative, "Jimmy, he's been messaging me. He... He sent me a message last night. Said he woke up with a gun in his hands and he doesn't remember anything that happened the night before except our fight and him going to the pub."

"Don't respond, Rose," the Doctor whispered. "You've got to cut him out of your life."

"I can't just say nothing, though. He... He thinks he murdered me. He woke up with a gun in his hands and I was gone. I can't let him think that. He keeps texting me. Begging me to respond. What do I do?" Rose asked helplessly.

"Listen to me, don't tell him anything. He tried to shoot you, Rose."

"He was drunk," Rose said.

"That doesn't matter," the Doctor insisted.

"I know. I just can't let him think he murdered me, y'know?"

"I understand that," the Doctor responded. "just, whatever you do, don't let him back into your life. Tell him to stay away."

"How can you say that about a person? He has feelings-"

"He tried to shoot you. He almost murdered you," the Doctor felt a pang in his heart at the thought that someone had tried to murder Rose.

"I know that. I know I can't go back to him. It's just hard sometimes. I still don't believe he tried to shoot me. I thought I was goin' to die, you know."

Jackie chose that moment to bustle into the flat, dozens of shopping bags in her hands. Rose immediately jumped up and helped Jackie with the unpacking as if nothing happened. The Doctor didn't stick around much longer. He was out the door almost immediately with hurried excuses about work.

 **...**

By the time the Doctor got back to the TARDIS the world was spinning.

There was something burning in his chest.

Rage. The feeling was rage.

It was the feeling he felt when he stared down a Dalek, it was what he felt when he declared himself the Time Lord Victorious.

The Doctor barely had a thought in his mind as he set coordinates into the TARDIS. The old girl whined at him, _don't go_ she seemed to say. The Doctor didn't listen. He smacked a button and the time rotor started pumping.

The rage was still burning in his chest.

The TARDIS landed and the Doctor strode out in a second.

Jimmy was different than the Doctor expected. He looked tired, and sad, not malicious. Although, evil intentions might not show off very well when a Blue Police Box inexplicably shows up in one's living room. Jimmy looked more shocked than anything else.

"What the...?"

"You hurt Rose," the Doctor said simply.

"What? How'd you know about Rose?" Jimmy asked incredulously. "Who ARE you?"

"You hurt her. You broke her heart," the Doctor stated.

"Look, get outta my flat! Rose is a good for nothing little girl that I'm glad I got out of my life-"

The Doctor didn't think before he strode forwards and struck Jimmy across the face. It hurt his hand a bit. This regeneration wasn't really great for fighting. But after studying so much martial arts in his third regeneration, it didn't take him long to get a rhythm.

Jimmy tried to punch him, but the Doctor dodged it. He grabbed Jimmy's hand and flipped him over in true Venusian Aikido style. Jimmy gasped for breath as the Doctor kicked him in the stomach.

The Doctor stepped back. What was he doing? Fighting? He felt embarrassed, until Jimmy spoke up.

"I'm glad Rose is hurt," Jimmy whispered. "She's so pathetic. 'Jimmy, do you think I'm pretty?' 'Jimmy, does my hair look nice?' 'Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy?' That girl doesn't have one originally thought. She's only a pretty face-"

The Doctor lost all restraint. In an instant he was on top of Jimmy, punching, hitting, kicking. There was no style anymore. No rhythm whatsoever. All thoughts of karate or Venusian Aikido were lost. All he wanted to do was _hurt_ Jimmy. The rage in his chest got worse. NO ONE hurt Rose. Rose was so much more than a pretty face-

"Rose is amazing!" The Doctor yelled between a punch. "She is amazing!" Punch. "So much better-" kick, "Than a bastard-" slap, "LIKE YOU!"

"Doctor?"

A familiar voice pulled the Doctor out of his rage. He looked up. Captain Jack Harkness stood in the doorway. He looked surprised. The Doctor looked down. Jimmy was unconscious. Blood was spilling from his nose. He was taking shuddering breaths. His ribs were most likely broken, much like his arms. The Doctor looked at his hands. They were covered in Jimmy's blood.

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor asked flatly.

"Well, I was coming over here to teach the scumbag up, but I see you beat me to it," Jack said with a smile. "I know what he did to Rose."

"What have I done?" the Doctor whispered to himself.

"Don't worry, he doesn't look dead," Jack offered helpfully.

"I think I broke my wrist," the Doctor stated.

"Well, based on the way I just saw you fight, I would guess so."

"This isn't funny!" the Doctor yelled at Jack.

"Sorry, Doc. Didn't mean for it to come off like that," Jack responded. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," the Doctor said. "No. I need. I need to go." He turned around and walked into the TARDIS.

"Wait, Doctor-" Jack tried to say, but the TARDIS disappeared before his eyes.

 **A/N: Er, sorry. Angst in that chapter like none of your business, :\ I actually cried writing this.**

 **Thanks to my reviewers:** **silvay drakkon (thanks for understanding about the wait on the last chapter), Silver Dolphin 218 (I know, I took forever! Also, congrats on your story :D), theDestroyerofXD (Your review made my day! Thank you so much for the love and support *hugs*), Seralina (Thanks! I'm exited Rose is back too :P), Guest (... and finally I've updated in July :P), Catnip30 (Thanks!), and Gally (I know! I need to write more :D).**

 **Feel free to leave a review! I really appreciate them :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: So, this chapter was particularly challenging to write. Originally I wrote it as three chapters, but it became way too drawn out and angsty. Anyway, enjoy...**

 **Chapter Fourteen:**

 **Time Passes**

Time passes. Time always does. Time also heals all wounds, or at least does a decent job of covering them up. Slowly, Rose's wounds began healing, albeit slowly. She didn't go back to school to get her A levels, but she did find a nice job in Henrick's. She also found a profound love for animals. Frederica the cat returned to the Powell Estate, though it passed away within the first year Rose was back. Rose began volunteering at animal shelters. She found a love for the cats there.

She also found a boy.

Rickey Smith had never been the Doctor's favorite person in the world, but he was kind and compassionate with Rose, and that's all that matters. Rickey seemed to make Rose happy, and sometimes he would join them for Thursday tea.

The Doctor continued on like normal, bouncing from Thursday to Thursday for tea time, trying not to think of his looming death at lake Silencio.

Eventually he would have to stop. Sooner or later, it would become 2005, the year he entered the picture, or the old him at least. It would soon be the year where he grabbed Rose's hand and told her to run.

 **...**

"How'd you spend your new year's, John?" Jackie asked.

"Eh, same as ever," the Doctor shrugged. "What year would this be, by the way?"

"2005 you plum!" Jackie replied.

The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat.

"I never told you mum, there was this odd guy outside the estate on New Years," Rose conversed. "Didn't seem to know what year it was."

"He must've spent some time in the pub!" Jackie exclaimed.

"He didn't seem drunk. Mind you, he seemed sad, almost. Moping around in the shadows or something."

"I have to go," the Doctor said.

"Ok," Jackie said as he bustled out the door. "See you next Thursday!"

Reason would have told the Doctor to stop returning to the Powell Estate then and there, but the Doctor has never been one to listen to reason. Against his better thoughts, he returned to the Tyler's flat the next week, and the next week, and the week after that.

Time passes. Time always does, and time was passing too fast for the Doctor.

 **...**

The TARDIS landed with a groaning noise just outside the Powell Estate. The Doctor stepped out of the Tardis and skipped happily to the Tyler's flat. He didn't notice the missing poster tacked up on a street sign. He also didn't notice that all of the shop window dummies had been removed from every store front.

The Doctor knocked on the door and almost immediately it was opened.

"Rose is that you-" Jackie trailed off as she flung open the door. Her eyes were red and deep dark circles were forming under them. "Oh, uh, John."

"Jackie, what's wrong?"

"I didn't call you... You probably had family you had to worry about... After the attack."

"Jackie, what's going on? Really, what is it?" the Doctor questioned.

"When all the shop window dummies came alive on Saturday, Rose went missing," Jackie made a choking noise. "She hasn't been found. I can't..."

Bev appeared in the hallway behind Jackie, "Who's there? I was in the loo no less than two minutes, I swear... Oh, hello, John."

"Rose went missing?" the Doctor asked urgently.

"Y-yes," Jackie said before bursting into tears. "I'm sorry, it's just after last time, with Jimmy. I can't, I can't do this again. I need my baby girl..."

The Doctor turned and ran from the flat, "I'll find Rose," he yelled back at Jackie before running down the Estate's stairs and flying into the streets. He turned towards the TARDIS, but something caught his eye that hadn't when he had first arrived.

It was a missing person poster with Rose's face on it.

" _It's not twelve hours, it's twelve months. You've been gone a whole year. Sorry."_

No.

It couldn't.

He forgot.

On Saturday the shop dummies came to life, the Doctor met Rose Tyler. Together, they saved the world, and together they would save it many more times. However, just after their adventure with Charles Dickens, the Doctor would take Rose back, 12 hours after she left.

" _It's not twelve hours, it's twelve months. You've been gone a whole year. Sorry."_

NO!

How could he have done this? How could he have been so nonchalant about it? Did he consider how Jackie felt? Did he think about the impact it would have on the people around Rose? Not only that, but she disappeared after a mass Auton attack on London, surely most would think she was killed in the attack.

For the first time since he had began this charade of tea with the Tylers, the Doctor wanted to abandon the idea and go, no, run, to Lake Silencio. Death would be better than the guilt he felt right now. The image of Jackie crying flashed past his eyes.

That idea was ridiculous. He couldn't just leave.

 **...**

Time passes. Time always does. But time passes far too slow for the Doctor's liking. He still goes to the Tyler Flat every Thursday. He makes sure Jackie has enough tissues around the house and helps her make missing person posters about Rose. He runs around London replacing the old posters with new ones. He feels responsible in an odd way.

 **...**

"She's dead, isn't she," Jackie whispered one day.

"You'll find her. Trust me, you will. She'll show up eventually."

"She promised she wouldn't do this to me, again!" Jackie exclaimed. "She already ran away with that Jimmy boy, now this, if I do find her again, how do I know that she won't go running off again? Or what if she's been kidnapped?"

"Jackie, I'm sure Rose is fine. Have you been getting enough sleep?" the Doctor inquired.

"No. How can I sleep when my poor baby is out there, somewhere? If she's out there? I just want to know. I can't keep doing this back and forth thing. If she's d-dead, I just want to know. How bloody awful is that? I just need to know if I can move on. But then, how could I ever _move on_? She's my baby! M-my Rose. My little girl..."

The Doctor gave Jackie a big hug, and when she wasn't looking slipped a little bit of Venusian sleeping powder in her tea. It might not be the most ethical thing to do, but at least Jackie would be able to get a full night's' sleep.

 **...**

"Look at this, John. I've written down everything I love about Rose, everything I miss. I think I want to frame it and hang it on the wall."

"That's a lovely idea, Jackie."

 **...**

"I found an old diary of Rose's. I don't know if I should read it or not. I don't want to invade her privacy, but maybe I find out where she went if I read it. It's been six months since she disappeared, y'know..."

 **...**

"I've been wearing one of Rose's old jumpers. It's very warm."

"It looks good on you," the Doctor complimented.

"I heard back from the banks about compensation for Rose's experience at Henrick's. I can't take money though. Not now," Jackie said.

"Take the money, Jackie. Rose would want you to have it."

"When did you start speaking about her in past tense?"

"Since you started," the Doctor replied, "about two weeks ago."

 **...**

"Is it bad I'm not sad about Rose being gone? Like, I'm not happy about it, but I can think about her now without, y'know, sobbing. It feels bad, like I'm doing something dirty if I don't cry."

"Don't worry Jackie. I don't think Rose would want you to cry your eyes out every time you think of her."

"Yeah. You're right."

 **...**

"I still make her a cuppa every morning. Just in case she returns. When I make myself tea, I pour a cup for her, and leave it on the counter. If she comes back. Nothing says welcome home like a nice cuppa. I don't think at this point she'll be back. It's almost been a year, but I think I'll keep making a cup every day, just because. My biggest fear is that I'll forget her somehow. Ridiculous, that, isn't it? But I very well could. Or at least, I could start to forget the small details, like how her right eyebrow moved more than her left, and her mouth lifted more when she smiled to the left. When I make that cuppa every morning for her, I think about those things, and I swear that I will never forget anything, anything, about Rose," Jackie told him one day while making tea.

 **...**

Later that day, as the Doctor made it back to the TARDIS and launched himself into the vortex, the phone rang. The Doctor picked it up. He had been expecting the call. It had been a year since Rose went missing.

" _John! John! She's home! Rose is back!"_ Jackie screeched on the other end.

"That's great, Jackie," the Doctor said. "I'll be right over!"

 **A/N: Thanks to my reviewers: Gally (Holy Makrel! I updated again. :) I'm even surprising myself with all this updateage), Seralina (oops, I think I left you hanging after this chapter as well), Lordban (I felt like I wrote 11 a little OOC in the last chapter, but I don't know... I feel like he really would loose his marbles if someone did that to Rose. Just look at how 12 acted when someone insulted Bill in Thin Ice :P), and WizardingWhovian (I agree, Jimmy deserves it :P. I'm glad you're enjoying the story!)**

 **Please leave a review at the tone... BEEP!**


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